Taking Flight: The Adventure Begins
by rusty o'neill
Summary: Harry Potter's twin sister Hope, who was raised by Remus Lupin after her parents died, attends Hogwarts, where she meets her twin for the first time, makes new friends, and helps stop Voldemort from returning to power.
1. Chapter 1

**This story was a collaboration between myself and my roommate, so lots of the credit for it goes to her. We were able to write the entire thing in one week! We're hoping to do each one of the Harry Potter stories as a series called Taking Flight, so this is just the first part of the series for now.**

** Disclaimer: My roommate and I do not own Harry Potter or anything pertaining to it. Except a set of the books and movies.**

Hope Potter sat up slowly as a shaft of sunlight struck through her window onto her cheek. She rolled over drowsily, pulling her faded patchwork quilt back over her head. She didn't want to get up this early. She was a night person, really, probably a result of spending the last ten years with her godfather Remus Lupin, a werewolf.

Hope wasn't a bit afraid of her godfather, even though most people would be terrified by the mere idea of living with a werewolf. Remus would never hurt her, and Hope knew it. She had, for the last few years, been brewing a potion that she had learned to make that helped make her godfather's spells less violent. He still had to stay locked indoors during full-moon nights, but Hope didn't hear him howling and scratching the doors anymore.

Hope couldn't imagine living anywhere other than with Remus. He was protective of her, but not in a suffocating way. Hope didn't mind this though. He was only watching out for her well-being after all! Her brother Harry lived with a Muggle family. When she was younger, she'd asked Remus if they could go visit. He'd sat her down and explained to her why she and Harry were living with families other than their own.

Hope and Harry's real parents had been killed by the Dark Lord Voldemort. He had tried to kill the twins also, but something had gone wrong then. The curse had rebounded onto Voldemort and he'd been killed. Hope and Harry had been split up to protect them, since there was something special about them, whatever had made them impervious to Voldemort's killing curse. Few in the magical community could be truly trusted, and it was feared that Hope and Harry might be in danger from those who might want to avenge the Dark Lord.

Remus could be trusted to protect his friends' daughter with his life. Harry could have lived with his godfather Sirius Black, since he too had been a close friend of the Potters, but Sirius was in Azkaban, accused of betraying the Potters and leading to their deaths. Remus had known Sirius for years. Sirius had been as good a friend to the Potters as Remus had ever been and he couldn't believe that Sirius would betray the Potters like that. It was disgusting.

These thoughts were running through Hope's head as she tried to convince herself to get out of bed. She stumbled around the room, quickly throwing a robe over her pajamas, and rushing downstairs. Remus was already sitting at the table, reading the _Daily Prophet_. He was almost oblivious to Hope's entrance, although he looked over the edge of the paper and gave her a small nod. The full moon had been just three days ago, and Remus was still haggard and weary from his change to a wolf.

Hope broke six eggs into a pan and started to scramble them, then moved on to fry up several thick slices of ham. Remus wasn't just tired after his long nights, he was always ravenously hungry. Hope had become a really good cook, especially at making large batches of food. Even though it was just the two of them, Hope had to go into town every week for more groceries.

After she'd taken two slices of ham and a scoop of eggs for herself, she slid the rest onto Remus's plate and started making some toast. She pulled a jar of her favorite raspberry marmalade from the cupboard and spread it over the toast as soon as it was done. She sat down with her meal across the table from Remus.

She didn't want to start the conversation. Remus might have a headache again, and if that was the case Hope didn't want to disturb him. She got headaches too, ones that were so bad they had her flat on her back in bed for days sometimes. Oddly, they usually seemed to occur right before something bad happened. The last one had been just before their nearest neighbor's house was struck by lightning and burned to the ground.

As breakfast was ending, Hope finally decided to start talking to Remus. "So, my birthday's coming up soon."

"Yes." He replied hesitantly.

"I was thinking, I might be old enough to have my own familiar now. I'm responsible, right? I can take care of an animal. Not a cat, since I'm allergic and you'd have an irresistible urge to chase it, but an owl maybe?" She asked, jutting her lower lip out a tad in an adorable pout. _A night creature like herself would be perfect,_ she thought.

Remus glanced up at Hope, and quickly looked back down at his paper, trying to avoid giving in to Hope so easily. "We'll see. You'll need one before you go to Hogwarts this fall. We can get one when we buy your supplies for school; how does that sound?"

"Fantastic!" Hope leaped up so fast the table wobbled. She walked around the table to give Remus a hug, and then carried the plates to the sink. As she was washing the dishes, an owl knocked on the window. She went to open the window, but it was stuck. After attempting to pry it open with a knife, Remus walked over and easily opened the window. Hope stuck her tongue out at Remus, and he just rolled his eyes at her and went back to his paper.

A creamy envelope fluttered down into Hope's hand as the grey owl swished up and landed on the eaves. Hope fingered the swirling green writing on the outside. "Miss Hope Potter, the Second Upstairs Bedroom, 643 Broken Wand Lane, Smoky Vale, Yorkshire." She excitedly broke the seal, and tore the letter out of the envelope. Hope set aside a train ticket for Platform 9 ¾ and a key labeled Gringotts, whatever that was. She hurriedly unfolded the letter and began to read:

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_**Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Potter,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_**Minerva McGonagall**_

_**Deputy Headmistress**_

"My invitation to Hogwarts!" Hope rushed in, brandishing the letter in Remus's face. He jumped, spilling tea down the front of his shirt.

"Oh, Hope, you nearly gave me a heart attack." Remus exclaimed. "I wondered when that letter was going to arrive." He took it from her and scanned the writing. "I remember when mine came. I was almost as excited as you. Well, in truth, maybe a little more so."

"We have to send a reply back." Hope told him. "I don't want somebody else to take my spot!"

Remus chuckled. "It doesn't work like that Hope, but we'll send a reply back first thing tomorrow."

"What else do we need to do Remus?" Hope asked him.

"Well, we'll need to get your books and supplies from Diagon Alley, and make sure you get on the train in time. You can't afford to be late that day." Remus told her.

"But we can't afford all this," Hope said quietly, scanning the list. Remus Lupin was far from a rich man, since it was hard for a werewolf to keep any steady employment. The pair made do and mended until what they had fell apart. Most of Hope's clothes had been patched multiple times and her boots didn't keep out water anymore.

"_We_ don't have to. You're a Potter, Hope. You have an inheritance. That key that came in the letter is to your family's vault in Gringotts, the wizarding bank. We'll go there first and get all the money you'll need for your first year."

"Okay." Hope murmured.

"You'll finally get to meet your brother, too. He's going to get the same invitation you just did, and you'll be attending Hogwarts together. I'm sorry you could never meet him before, but it was for his own safety, and yours."

"I know Remus. I just hope he likes me." Hope whispered to Remus, suddenly unsure of herself.

"He'll love you, and so will everybody else." Remus assured her. Hope smiled at him, gave him a quick hug, and went to finish her morning chores.

A month later, Hope's birthday arrived. She woke up to a soft knock on her door. Remus walked in moments later with two small presents. She sat up in bed and tiredly smiled at her godfather. "Good morning Remus."

"Good morning Hope. Happy birthday!" He told her, gently handing her the two presents. She carefully opened the first one and it was a photo album. Flipping through the pages, she found the album covered in wizard photos of her parents and Remus from their school years, and young adulthood. The last page with pictures ended with her mother and father holding the twins. "This is your past. It's mostly empty for you to fill it with your future."

"Remus I love it!" Hope squealed, launching herself at him. He chuckled and patted her on the head before urging her to open the next present. It was a wizarding camera. "You shouldn't have bought me this Remus! You need the money." She exclaimed, looking at him in shock.

"I've been saving for this since you were little. You haven't gotten the best presents in the past and I wanted you to have something special to take to Hogwarts with you. Besides, you need something to take the photos that you are going to fill the album with." Remus responded to her before heading back downstairs to start breakfast.

Hope, now thoroughly awake, climbed out of bed and headed for the stairs. She could smell bacon frying and she realized that she was hungry. It was awfully kind of Remus to make breakfast for her, she thought, since he was still recovering from the full moon. He'd gotten up early to make this day special for her.

"I was thinking we'd go to Diagon Alley today and get your school supplies," Remus said when he set Hope's plate down in front of her.

"I'd love to!" Hope had never been to Diagon Alley before. She was almost too excited to eat, even though the meal was delicious. This was going to be the best birthday ever!

When breakfast was over and the dishes were washed and put away, Hope went upstairs to get dressed for going to Diagon Alley. Remus would take her by Side-Along Apparition, instead of using Floo Powder, which she hated. She got dizzy using it, and coming out of fireplaces always made her dirty.

Hope brushed out her long auburn hair, and wrapped a scarf around her neck in order to hide her lightning-bolt scar. She didn't particularly want to attract attention in Diagon Alley. She knew that being a Potter meant she was famous. She liked living with Remus because both of them tried to stay on the outskirts of society, avoiding attention. Hope knew how Remus felt about being a werewolf. She felt like one herself sometimes. People didn't really fear her, but they could hound her.

She'd stopped going to school two years ago after the other children wouldn't leave her alone, going on and on about how she'd survived Voldemort's spells. Sometimes she envied Harry his life with the muggles, who didn't know he was famous and thus didn't pester him. Remus had taught her spells at home for the last few years. He was an excellent teacher and Hope had mastered many simple spells already. She was extremely proficient at Defense Against the Dark Arts because Remus felt that she should be prepared to defend herself at all times, especially if he wasn't there to protect her. He worried about something happening to her when he was locked in his room during the full moon.

She finished dressing and went back downstairs, where Remus was waiting for her. He took her arm. "Are you ready?" He asked.

Hope nodded. She'd traveled this way a few times before, so it didn't bother her as much anymore. The first time Remus had taken her by Apparition, she'd passed out. It was embarrassing. Hope had a tendency to pass out in extreme situations.

She held tight as the now familiar feeling of being sucked through a straw took hold of her. She and Remus were only pulled along for a few seconds before she found herself back on solid ground, in the middle of Diagon Alley. Hope gasped as she glanced around at the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley. Her mouth gaped as she stared up at the tall houses, then brought her gaze back to the faces of the hundreds of people milling about the street. Most were families with children, some her age, some a little older. They must all be getting their school supplies for the new year at Hogwarts.

She tugged her scarf a little tighter against her neck, making sure no one could see her scar, although her red hair was almost enough of a giveaway. She walked close to Remus, half-hidden by him, watching the crowds with a nervous anticipation. She was sure it was only a matter of time before someone pointed her out and she and Remus were mobbed.

"Where do we need to go?" she asked in a small voice, feeling rather overwhelmed.

"We need to get money from Gringotts before we do any shopping," Remus said, pointing to the building at the end of the street. He gently grasped her elbow and guided her towards it. Gringotts was huge. Looming and grey, it dominated one end of Diagon Alley with its imposing façade. Hope shuddered a little as she and Remus stepped into the long shadow cast by the building. She felt dwarfed and too young to be here. _This couldn't be real_, she thought. She was sure she would wake up and find she'd dreamed it all.

They walked through the huge front doors of the wizarding bank and into a huge, cavernous-looking room filled with goblins. Hope stayed close to Remus, slightly hiding behind his back. The goblins looked frightening, with their long claws and horrible dispositions. The two walked to the back of the room, where there was a desk taller than Hope. She stared up at a fierce-looking goblin sitting there.

The goblin leaned over the tall desk, staring down at Hope with a scowl, his pointy grey ears quivering. "Already had one of you Potters in here today." Hope hid her face in Remus's robes.

"That means Harry's already been here, then," Remus said to her, then turned to the goblin. "We have a key for vault 687." He held it out to the goblin who examined it and then grunted.

The grey creature led them to a mine cart with a lantern hanging near the front. She and Remus climbed in with the goblin. The cart moved off swiftly of its own accord, speeding down into the caverns below Gringotts. Hope clung to Remus as the cart swerved around corners and sped along straight sections of the track. She didn't like the rapid motion; it was making her almost as queasy as the Floo powder did.

Finally they arrived at the vault and Hope stumbled out of the cart, almost falling down into the abyss below. Luckily Remus grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the ledge in front of the vault. "Careful sweetheart, we don't want you to die before you go to Hogwarts." Remus chuckled and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She grumbled, giving Remus an innocent smile when he glared at her. By this time, the goblin had opened the vault and Remus and Hope stepped inside. Hope's mouth fell open in shock when she saw the piles of gold filling most of the room. "Oh my goodness!" She squealed, slapping Remus on the arm. "This is fantastic!"

Remus swiftly moved himself out of her of flailing arms reach and began to fill a pouch with the coins. When he had filled the pouch, he pulled Hope back out of the vault and helped her get back into the cart. Then they promptly returned to the surface. Remus thanked the goblin, and tugged Hope out of Gringotts and back into the streets of Diagon Alley.

"First thing to do is to get you some Hogwarts robes." Remus told her. Hope nodded and they began to walk towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Luckily, nobody was in there so Madam Malkin got started on her measurements right away. After working for a while, Madam Malkin had successfully finished her uniform. Hope glanced at her reflection in the mirror and nearly gasped. _I look so much like my mother!_ Her eyes widened as she realized that. With her flowing red hair and the new black robes, she was obviously Lily Potter's daughter.

"You look wonderful," Remus said hoarsely as she twirled to show off the newly fitted robes. "You remind me of my own Hogwarts days." Hope returned to the back room to take off the robes and change back into her street clothes. She and Remus walked out, brushing shoulders with a pale-haired woman and her son. Hope was too lost in her daydreams of Hogwarts to notice them, or the tall, bearded man leading a black-haired boy who followed soon after.

Next to Madam Malkin's was a store selling muggle-type clothes. Hope would need a new wardrobe for school, since her old clothes were so patched and worn. She wandered through the racks of clothing, picking out various clothes that suited her style. She'd never had the luxury of being able to pick out whatever clothes she wanted before, and it was fun to try on different things and decide what she liked. She tried to convince Remus to let her buy him some new clothes too, but he kept insisting that he didn't need anything. After Hope had chosen her new clothes, Remus arranged with the shop owner to have the clothes sent to their house so that he and Hope would not have to carry them all day.

The next stop was Flourish and Blotts, where Hope bought all of her books for class. There were a lot of them and they were really heavy, but luckily Remus knew a spell that would lighten them and make them easier to carry. Then they made their way to the various stores to pick out a pewter cauldron and glass phials. They continued throughout the alley and bought a telescope and brass scales. Finally it was time to go to Ollivander's and buy a wand.

As she walked in the doors, she noticed an object hurdling towards her head. Hope ducked just in time, as a wand box whizzed over her head and smashed into the wall. She stared at the boy standing in shock in the middle of the room, holding a wand gingerly as if it would explode. He was about the same height as she was, and he had thick black hair that looked vaguely familiar to Hope. Then he turned and looked right at her, and she gasped a little as his eyes met hers. She knew who he was. Her brother: Harry Potter.

She had never even seen a photograph of him, but she knew him instantly. He looked just like her father in the picture of his Hogwarts friends Remus had sitting on his mantel, all except for his eyes, which were their mother Lily's.

"Harry?" Hope leaped to her feet. "Harry, it's me, Hope!" She was halfway across the room, ready to wrap him in a giant hug, when she saw the blank look on his face. He looked as if she were some crazy person who was about to attack him. "Harry, I'm your sister!"

"What?" Harry's brows knitted in a frown. "That's impossible, I don't have a sister." Hope felt a crushing weight descend on her chest, squeezing out her breath. Her own brother didn't know her. She knew most of his true history had been kept secret from him for his own safety, but she couldn't believe that the Muggles he lived with hadn't at least told him he had a twin! She'd been looking forward to this meeting for so long, and now it was all going horribly wrong. She almost felt like crying.

"Perhaps Hagrid forgot to mention that one bit of information," Ollivander said, standing up from where he'd been hiding from the flying boxes. He picked up several of them and replacing them on the shelves. "Be with you in a moment Miss Potter, I need to finish with your brother first." Hope shyly nodded at him, looking behind her to see Remus entering the building.

Remus immediately noticed Hope's heartbroken expression and glanced at the boy in front of her, connecting the dots instantly. He walked over to Hope and wrapped his arm around her, protectively pulling her into his side. Finally, Harry had found his wand. It glowed brightly around him and a breeze blew through the room. Hope could immediately tell that that wand was incredibly powerful and perfect for her brother.

Harry paid for his wand and then it was Hope's turn. She noticed that Harry was still standing there watching her, and became very self-conscious. She didn't want to make a mess in front of him; she wanted to impress him. Ollivander smiled at her encouragingly and handed her a wand.

Hope lifted the wand, feeling a shiver of anticipation running down her spine. This wand felt right. Hawthorn, 10 ¾ inches, it was the perfect size for her hand, but more than that it _felt_ right. Something about it was perfect. She raised her wand and Ollivander ducked in what was probably a reflex move. He'd likely had a lot of new Hogwarts students in here making a disaster, Hope thought. She lifted the end of her wand and flicked it. Showers of red and gold sparks blazed out, filling the air in the shop.

Hope and Harry looked at each other and grinned. "I guess we are related after all." Harry exclaimed. Hope just smiled shyly back at Harry and nodded. Remus chuckled softly at the two of them, and nudged Hope to pay Ollivander. She did and the older man kindly thanked her, but began to speak before she and Remus could leave.

"Curious, very curious." Ollivander murmured. Beside Hope, Remus stiffened, already realizing what Ollivander was about to say.

"Sorry, but what's curious?" Harry asked Ollivander, glancing at Hope and Remus nervously.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. and Miss Potter. It just so happens that the phoenix, whose tail feather resides in your wands gave one other feather, just one. It is curious that you should be destined for these wands when their brother gave you those scars." Ollivander replied, pointing at Harry's scar, and gesturing towards Hope's neck.

"And...Who owned that wand?" Harry asked him. Hope also stiffened at this point, realizing who owned the wand, and why the brother and sister wands had chosen them.

"Oh, we do not speak his name. The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It's not always clear why, but I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you two. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things...terrible, yes, but great."

Ollivander looked like he wanted to say more but a knock on the window interrupted the conversation.

"Harry! Harry! Happy Birthday!" Hagrid was standing at the window with a cage holding a white snowy owl in his hand.

"Wow!" Harry replied, looking at the owl in amazement.

Hope and Remus followed Harry out of the store, and had attempted to walk away when Hagrid called to them, "Remus, Hope, it's so good to see you two!"

Remus and Hope turned back to the others. "Hello Hagrid, it's been a while hasn't it? How have you been?" Remus spoke to Hagrid while Hope shied from the giant man slightly.

"Good, good. Just helping young Harry out," Hagrid replied. "Would you two like to join us for supper?"

Remus glanced at Hope for a second before replying, "We need to pick out an owl for Hope but then we would love to."

Hope looked over at Harry, who was holding his owl's cage and talking to the owl inside. Working up her courage, she walked over to him. "What are you going to call her?" she asked hesitantly.

"I haven't decided yet. She needs a good name for a wizard's owl."

"How about Hedwig? She was a saint from the medieval ages."

"That sounds wonderful." Harry looked back to the owl. "Hedwig," he said, testing out the name. The owl hooted in response, and the two laughed. Then Hope felt Remus's hand on her shoulder.

"Ready to go get your own owl, Hope?" Remus questioned quietly.

"Yes!" Hope walked off with him. "See you at dinner, Harry!"

Remus and Hope walked into Eeylops Owl Emporium, which was filled with cages of owls. Some were fluttering about, some hooting, others sitting quietly. There were all sizes, from an adorable pygmy owl to a majestic Great Grey Owl. Hope didn't know what owl to choose. They were all amazing. She wanted one that could carry a letter for her, but not one that was almost as big as she was!

As she walked through the shop, Hope suddenly noticed a pair of black eyes staring right at her. She looked into the cage, noticing the label, which read "Ural Owl-Male." The owl was beautiful, with black-speckled white feathers and a cute round face.

"Remus, I think I found one," Hope called. She held out her hand toward the cage and the owl hooted softly, moving along its perch until its soft feathers brushed against her hand. Remus smiled when he saw Hope and the owl.

"It likes you," he said, picking up the cage and walking toward the front, where Hope paid for the owl. Then they walked back outside.

"I think I'll call him Speck," Hope said, stroking the owl's soft feathers through the bars of his cage. Speck hooted softly. _Harry will probably think it's funny that I just chose a 'normal' name for my owl when his has a wizarding name, but that's okay_, she thought to herself.

The two stopped outside the Leaky Cauldron, where Hagrid had told them they'd meet for lunch. Hagrid and Harry were already inside, sitting at one of the tables. They moved to make more room for Remus and Hope when they came in.

"Your owl is great!" Harry said, looking at the cage Hope was holding. "What did you name him?"

"Speck."

"What?"

"Speck."

"What? Why would you name it that?"

"Why not?" Hope was beginning to feel offended. She could name her owl whatever she wanted!

"I just thought…because you suggested Hedwig for mine, that you'd pick a magical-sounding name for yours too."

"Well, I didn't. I've spent my entire life in the wizarding world so I'm not as fascinated by trivial wizarding facts as you are!" Hope snapped. Harry looked at her in shock and she realized exactly what she said. "Oh my goodness, I'm sorry! I didn't mean that!" She exclaimed but the damage had already been done. Harry was upset with her. He stalked off and sat down at the table as far away from her as he could.

Hope collapsed onto the bench next to Remus, barely gulping back tears. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded, I really didn't." Remus put his arm around her shoulder.

"It'll be all right, Hope. He'll forgive you soon enough. He's still adjusting to all this, you know. It's a whole new world to him, and he doesn't like being reminded that he grew up in a place he didn't really belong."

During the meal, Hope was too distressed to eat. She swirled her spoon aimlessly in her bowl of soup, pretending to eat whenever Remus looked her way.

Hagrid noticed the silence at the table, but misinterpreted the cause. "You all right, Harry? You seem very quiet. Ever since Ollivander told you about them wands, you haven't been yourself."

Harry seemed to snap out of his reverie. "He killed my parents, didn't he? The one who gave me this. You know, Hagrid, I know you do."

Hagrid gave a deep sigh and pushed away the large bowl of soup in front of him. "First, and understand this, Harry, 'cause it's very important. Not all wizards are good. Some of them go bad. A few years ago there was one wizard who went as bad as you can go. And his name was V-...his name was V-..." Hope shrank into Remus's side, knowing what was about to come. She'd heard this story before, and it still terrified her and made her sad.

"Maybe if you wrote it down?" Harry asked.

"No, I can't spell it." Hagrid insisted. "All right. His name was Voldemort."

"Voldemort?" Harry repeated, far too loudly. Hope flinched.

"Shh!" Hagrid, Remus and Hope all whispered together.

Hagrid launched into an explanation. "It was dark times, Harry, dark times. Voldemort started to gather some followers, brought 'em over to the dark side. Anyone that stood up to him ended up dead. Your parents fought against him, but nobody lived once he decided to kill 'em. Nobody...not one. Except you two."

"Us? Voldemort tried to kill...us?" Harry asked. Hope was now completely out of sight behind Remus's cloak, sobbing silently into his shoulder.

"Yes. That ain't no ordinary cut on your forehead, Harry. A mark like that only comes from being touched by a curse...and an evil curse at that." Hagrid said.

"What happened to Vo-...to You-Know-Who?" Harry asked curiously.

"Some say he died. Codswallop in my opinion. Nope, I reckon he's out there, still, too tired to go on. But one thing's absolutely certain. Something about you stumped him that night. That's why you're famous, Harry. That's why everybody knows your name. You're the boy who lived."

"Oh. But…Hagrid, you said the curse left a scar. Why doesn't Hope have one?"

"She does, just not in the same place as yours. Your scar is on your forehead, since you were looking right at You-Know-Who when he said the curse. Hope had turned and hid her face in your shoulder. The curse hit her in the side of the neck, where her scar is. But she already knew all that, Remus told her." Hope flinched at the reminder of her life in the wizarding world. She didn't dare look in Harry's direction.

The rest of the meal passed in an uncomfortable silence. No one wanted to bring up the story of the twins again, and both children were silent, affected by the reminder of the horrific events of the past.

Finally, Hagrid stood and motioned to Harry that it was time for them to go. "Good to see you again, Remus. Hope, I'll see you at Hogwarts," he said as he and Harry walked out the door. Hope and Remus left shortly after. Hope was still upset, both from her fight with Harry and from the mention of their parents' death. She and Remus gathered her school supplies and apparated back to their house in silence.

When they arrived at the house, Hope separated herself from Remus and ran up the stairs to her room, flinging herself onto her bed and sobbing loudly into her pillow. Remus sighed tiredly and silently put her things away for her, slowly following her up to her room to comfort her.

**Reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

Almost a month later, September 1, Hope woke up knowing that this was the day she was supposed to leave for Hogwarts. She knew she should have been thrilled, but ever since her spat with Harry she was half-dreading having to face him at school. They had separated with their argument still unresolved, and Hope wasn't sure whether Harry would be ready to forgive and forget or if he still resented the fact that she had grown up in the wizards' world and he had not.

She didn't eat much at breakfast; she was too nervous. She would have been tense enough with just the regular excitement of leaving home for the first time and going to Hogwarts, but obsessing over her argument with her twin made her even more anxious.

She and Remus left for King's Cross shortly after breakfast so that they would arrive on time for the train. When they got to the station, Remus helped Hope unload all of her luggage and get it settled onto a trolley. "Now remember, you have to walk straight through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10," he told her, leaning down so he could look her in the eyes. "Now remember, be careful at school. You haven't spent a lot of time with other kids, so choose your friends cautiously. Watch out for Peeves the Poltergeist, he's trouble. Oh, and don't turn anybody's hair blue; your father did that to his DADA professor his first year."

Hope chuckled. She reached up to give Remus a hug. "I'll miss you," she whispered, suddenly realizing just how far from home she would be for the next nine months. Remus said nothing at all, just holding her tightly as if he didn't want to let go. When he finally stood up, Hope could see tears shining in his eyes.

"You'd better go now, or you'll be late," he said. Hope turned away, trying not to burst out sobbing. She didn't want to turn up on Platform 9 ¾ crying her eyes out. Hope bit her lip and took a running start the way Remus had said to. She hit the wall, half-expecting to bounce back with a broken nose. But the bricks seemed into mist in front of her, and she stumbled forward onto another bustling train platform. Remus quickly followed after her.

Hope stopped, ramming her knee into her trolley as she stared in wonder at Platform 9 ¾. A glossy scarlet-and-black engine puffed and steamed next to the edge of the platform. Other wizarding families were busily seeing their children off. One in particular caught her eye; there were five children, all of them gingers! Hope recognized a few of the others vaguely. She tugged her scarf closer around her neck, trying to avoid any unwanted attention. Remus nudged her forward and helped her get her baggage into the train.

As the train prepared to leave with a huffing sound and a billow of smoke, Remus helped Hope up the steps onto the train. "Good luck at Hogwarts!" he called as she stepped inside, and then the train began to move, chugging out of the station. Hope watched from the window until she couldn't see Remus anymore, then decided she should probably find a place to sit.

The train was crowded with both First Years and older Hogwarts students returning to school. Hope tried to navigate through the throng of people, but stopped when she saw her twin sitting in one of the compartments. She was about to join him when she saw that he wasn't alone. Harry was already sitting with the red-haired boy from the platform and a girl Hope didn't recognize. She hesitated at the door of the compartment, debating with herself whether to go in. She'd imagined sitting with her brother, swapping stories about their lives and getting to know each other on the way to Hogwarts, but Harry had treated her with nothing more than a cold shoulder since their argument in Diagon Alley. He seemed to feel betrayed that Hope had never gotten in touch with him, and that he had not been told he had a sister when Hagrid revealed the truth about his family.

She didn't want to intrude on her brother and his new friends. They looked happy and seemed to be enjoying talking together. She moved away slowly. Harry never even looked up.

Hope swallowed down the lump of disappointment in her throat and moved on to an empty compartment. She shoved her suitcase into the upper luggage rack, eyes so filled with hot tears that she failed to notice the three other trunks stowed there, and sat down, staring glumly out the window at the passing landscape.

She had hardly been there more than a few minutes when the door of the compartment was shoved open. Hope jumped, startled, as a tall boy with white-blond hair strode into the compartment as if he owned it, followed by a pair of stocky, dull-faced boys.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize this compartment was taken," She said, blushing and springing to her feet.

"No, you're welcome to stay," the first boy said.

Hope looked up as the tall blond boy sat down beside her. "I'm Draco Malfoy," he said with a wide, winning smile. "You looked a bit lonely."

"Yes, my brother and I had a bit of a spat, and he didn't want to sit with me. He thinks I'm a smart-aleck because I know more about the wizarding world than he does and tried to tell him about some things. He was raised by muggles. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself properly. I'm Hope Potter."

"_The _Hope Potter?" Draco glanced at her again, this time in amazement. "Then your brother must be Harry Potter. You're the twins who lived."

"Yes." Hope shrank back a little. She hadn't wanted to attract attention and admiration. But no matter what, it seemed to follow her.

However, Draco didn't seem to be acting like most of the people who fawned over her because she was famous. He seemed only to have been interested in her reputation for a moment. "Then you're a First Year, right?"

"Yes."

"So am I. Maybe I could show you the ropes, help you get your bearings a little."

"I'd love it!" Hope scooted over on her seat so she could sit sideways and face Draco. "I've stayed away from the wizarding world for the most part. My godfather and I don't like to attract attention. So I'm sort of out of the loop when it comes to what's going on now. Everything I know about Hogwarts I know from books."

Hope found herself forgetting her earlier spat with her twin as she continued to talk to Draco. She didn't notice the time passing until she realized they were almost to Hogwarts and she still hadn't changed into her school robes.

"Oh, I have to go get ready," she said, standing up. "It was nice to meet you, Draco."

"You too, Hope. Maybe we'll see each other around Hogwarts sometimes."

Hope took her trunk and left to change into her school clothes. She hadn't been a moment too soon, because almost as soon as she'd pulled her robe over her head, the train began to grind to a stop. Off balance with her arms in the air, and unable to see from the robe over her head, Hope nearly toppled over at the sudden change of speed.

The train came to a full stop, and the students climbed out, First Years forming a nervous huddle near Hagrid, who was calling out, "First Years this way!" All of the students climbed into boats waiting to take them across the Black Lake to Hogwarts Castle, which was shining in the dusk with hundreds of lighted windows.

Hope sat down in one of the boats. She was sort of dreading the trip across the water, and so she didn't take her eyes off her lap until another First Year sat down near her. She looked up and noticed that the girl seemed familiar. After searching her memory trying to place where she'd seen her, Hope remembered. This was the girl who'd been sitting with Harry on the train.

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger."

"I'm Hope Potter," Hope said, purposely slurring her last name a bit to avoid having to discuss her life while the boat carried them over to Hogwarts. She didn't want to try to talk and keep her balance at the same time.

"Did you say Potter?" Hermione asked. Hope cringed, but nodded. "I sat with your brother on the train! He was telling Ron and me about you. He hoped you'd come sit with him so we could meet you, but you never did."

"Oh," was all Hope could say. Harry seemed to have completely forgotten their argument. She'd been obsessing over it for weeks for nothing. Maybe she should have listened to Remus. He tried to tell her that boys reacted differently than girls but she didn't listen. _Oh well, _she thought, _next time I'll listen to Remus._

While Hope was having an internal discussion, another boy had joined their boat. He was a tad overweight and looked awkward sitting in between the two girls. "Have you seen a large toad anywhere?" The boy asked Hope.

_Toad?!_ Hope's mind screeched. She automatically lifted her legs up and began to frantically search the floor of the boat. When she realized that there was no toad in the boat, she put her legs back down and blushed. "No, I haven't seen a toad. Sorry," she replied quietly, ducking her head to avoid looking the boy in the eyes.

"Oh, okay thanks anyway," the boy answered back glumly. "I'm Neville by the way."

"Hi Neville, I'm Hope. It's nice to meet you. I hope you find your toad." Hope replied, trying to be friendly after her embarrassing spaz out a few moments earlier. Neville awkwardly smiled back at her and then glanced back at his lap. The rest of the boat ride was filled with silence, each one lost in their thoughts.

When the boats finally made it across the lake, Hope clumsily made her way out of the boat, almost falling on Neville a time or two. She blushed again and hurriedly walked away from the boy; she didn't want to continue making a fool out of herself. She walked by herself into the castle and looked around for Harry in the foyer.

"Hope!" A loud voice boomed behind her, causing her to jump and trip on her robes. She began to fall backwards when two hands grabbed her waist hesitantly. She turned around and found herself staring into a face that looked just like hers. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you," Harry said, ducking his head shyly.

"Hi Harry. It's okay, I scare easily so there was nothing you could do to not scare me. Thanks for catching me. I'd rather not end up in the hospital wing with a concussion on the first night of school." Hope replied, smiling up at Harry brightly.

Harry opened his mouth to respond when a noise from above drew everybody's attention. An older witch in green robes and a pointed hat descended the stairs and began to speak. "My name is Professor McGonagall. Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Now, while you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup."

Neville, the boy from the boat, jumped forward shouting, "Trevor!" McGonagall stared down at him, causing him to flinch. "Sorry." He whispered as he backed away.

McGonagall began to speak again, "The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily." She looked at the children once and then went into the huge doors behind her.

Draco noticed Harry and Hope standing by each other and walked over. "It's true then, what they're saying on the train. The Potter twins have come to Hogwarts." His statement caused students to whisper their names. "This is Crabbe, and Goyle," nodding to the two boys that had sat with Draco and Hope on the train, "and I'm Malfoy...Draco Malfoy." Ron snickered at his name and Hope looked at Ron sharply. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours. Red hair, and a hand me down robe? You must be a Weasley. We'll soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. Don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." Draco extended his hand toward Harry and shot a quick smile to Hope.

Harry looked at Draco's hand with disgust. "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks." Draco glared at Harry and ignored Hope. McGonagall suddenly appeared behind him and smacked him on the shoulder with a paper. He retreated with one last glare to Harry.

Hope shrank back. Draco seemed to be a completely different boy than the one she'd sat next to on the train. Harry looked over at her. "Hope, are you all right? You look rather pale. Are you worried about the sorting?"

Hope just nodded. She wasn't about to try to explain to her brother about meeting Draco on the train. The two boys were obviously at odds. Hope felt a twisting in her chest. This was making everything so much more complicated. Why couldn't boys just get along? She wished Harry would have given Draco a chance.

"We're ready for you now," McGonagall spoke, leading the children through the large doors and into the Great Hall. Hope looked up at the ceiling in amazement. It looked like the night sky!

Hermione followed Hope's eyes to the ceiling and tried to explain something Hope already knew. "It's not real, the ceiling. It's just bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History." Hope, not wanting to start an argument with the seemingly know-it-all witch, nodded.

"All right, will you wait along here, please? Now, before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words." Professor McGonagall stated, before moving aside, giving the First Years the chance to see their new Headmaster.

An old wizard with long grey hair and a billowing beard stood from the table. He reminded Hope of the actors who would play Merlin. (Remus had always made sure Hope remembered her muggle background and would take her to movies and other cool muggle events.) The headmaster began to speak. "I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce. The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch -," he paused, signaling to a ragged old man holding a cat in the back of the room, "- has asked me to remind you that the 3rdfloor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you." He nodded and sat back down on his ornate chair.

McGonagall stood in front of the First Years again and began to tell them what to do, "When I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses." She paused, looking down at the piece of parchment in her hands. "Hermione Granger."

Beside Hope, Hermione froze and began to mutter to herself, "Oh, no. Okay, relax." She let out a deep sigh and moved up toward the stool.

The red-head by Harry, whom Hope had learned from Hermione was named Ron looked at Hermione like she was insane. "Mental that one, I'm telling you." Harry nodded in agreement and Hope rolled her eyes at the boys.

After deliberating for quite a while, the Sorting Hat finally spoke, "Ah, right then...hmm...right. Okay...Gryffindor!" A table full of upperclassmen on the side of the room began to cheer. Hermione walked off the stage with a smile on her face.

McGonagall read the next name on the list, "Draco Malfoy." Hope randomly wondered why McGonagall wasn't going in alphabetical order. _Maybe it's a wizard thing,_ she thought and left it at that.

She watched as Draco swaggered up to the stool and gracefully sat down. The hat barely touched Draco's head before shouting, "SLYTHERIN!" Draco smirked and walked over to a different table.

Ron, apparently thinking it was appropriate to start talking, said, "There isn't a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin." Hope glared at him in annoyance. _Why can't Gryffindor and Slytherin just get along?_

McGonagall continued with the Sorting, ignoring Ron, "Susan Bones." A small redhead walked up to the stool.

Hope zoned out patiently waiting for her name to be called. She didn't notice much around her until Harry gave a gasp of pain and clapped a hand to his forehead.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Hope asked, glancing at him in concern.

"Nothing…Nothing. I'm fine," Harry insisted, but Hope noticed that he was staring at a professor sitting up in the front at the table. He was a tall man with black hair and a piercing gaze. Hope glanced his way, but nothing seemed wrong to her. She was jerked back to reality when the Sorting Hat made its decision about Susan.

"Let's see...I know...Hufflepuff!" Susan smiled shyly and walked to yet another table.

McGonagall called the next name from the list. "Ronald Weasley." Ron gulped and walked up. He sat down and McGonagall placed the Hat on his head.

The Sorting Hat muttered, "Ah! Another Weasley. I know just where to put you...Gryffindor!" Ron sighed in relief, getting up and walking to the table where Hermione had sat down.

McGonagall glanced down, reading the next name. "Harry Potter." Hope glanced at Harry, but he was so tense he didn't notice her. The whole room had gone silent, watching to see what would happen to the first of the famous Potter twins. Harry walked slowly to the front of the room. Hope watched, clenching her fists as she waited for what the Hat would say.

The Hat deliberated for what seemed like a terrifyingly long time, and Harry at one point seemed to be talking to it. Finally, the Hat bellowed, "GRYFFINDOR!" There was an explosion of cheers from the Gryffindor table as Harry joined it.

McGonagall had to shout to be heard above the cheering. "HOPE POTTER!" There was another dead silence. Hope turned bright red, and moved slowly to the front, hoping desperately that she wouldn't trip in front of the entire school. McGonagall set the Hat on Hope's head. It was large, but not so huge that it slid down over her nose. And it was talking to itself.

"Hmm. Like your brother. Intelligence, courage, and the potential to become great. Now let me see. Where is best for you?" Hope bit her lip. Then the hat shouted out, "RAVENCLAW!" Hope gave a tiny sigh of both relief and regret. She'd gotten a fantastic house, but it wasn't Harry's. She had hoped they would've ended up together. They had just gotten to know each other, and now they'd only get to see each other in class. She hurried to sit down at the Ravenclaw table.

The sorting was nearly over now. A few others were left to be brought up front, and then when the ceremony was over, Professor McGonagall tapped her knife against her goblet and announced, "Your attention, please."

Dumbledore stood and addressed the students. "Let the feast...begin." Hope gasped as food magically appeared on the tables. Hope began to fill her plate with her favorite foods. She accidentally bumped another girl's hand as they both reached for a roll from the same basket. They pulled their hands back simultaneously and looked at each other.

The brown-haired girl sitting next to Hope smiled shyly at her. "I'm sorry I bumped you. Hi, I'm Morgan Ettington. And you're Hope Potter."

Hope vaguely remembered this girl from the sorting. Her head had been so dizzy with worrying which house she'd be put into that she hadn't been paying attention to most of the other kids. But this girl had been standing near Draco Malfoy, talking to him as if she knew him.

As they both started eating, Hope brought up the subject. "Do you know Draco Malfoy?" she asked hesitantly.

"A bit. My family and his family are friends. Purebloods and all that. I grew up seeing Draco a lot. We're not really good friends, but he's one of the few people my parents would let me associate with. That's part of the reason I was so excited to come here to Hogwarts. I can have any friends I want here, and my parents don't have to know." Morgan looked delighted with her newfound freedom.

Hope grinned. "Yeah, me too. My godfather raised me, and I didn't get out much. People kept swamping me because I was famous."

When the meal was done, the House prefects led the First Years out of the Great Hall to their dormitories. Hope gave a single backward glance as she and Harry were led to different halls. Then she hurried to catch up to Morgan. The group climbed what seemed to be a never-ending flight of stairs. Hope was puffing a bit by the time the students reached the top.

"Be careful of the stairs, they like to move about on you," one of the Ravenclaw prefects warned as the First Years clustered outside a door with a large brass knocker in the shape of an eagle.

"To get in, you must answer a riddle." Flitwick, Ravenclaw's Head of House, looked up at the assembled First years.

"Oh, no!" Hope's shoulders sagged. She was terrible at riddles!

"Miss Potter, is there something you wanted to say?" Flitwick glanced at her. "Since you are so talkative, you may be the one to answer the riddle and let us in."

This thing all things devours:  
>Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;<br>Gnaws iron, bites steel;  
>Grinds hard stones to meal;<br>Slays king, ruins town,  
>And beats high mountain down.<p>

"Oh, I know that! Time! Good thing I read Tolkien!" Hope sighed in relief. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all. She and Morgan stepped into the common room, with its bronze and blue décor. The prefects showed the First Years where the dormitories were and they all headed into their respective dorms.

Luckily Morgan and Hope were in the same dormitory. They shared the room with five other girls. Their names were Mandy Brocklehurst, Sue Li, Isobel MacDougal, Padma Patil, and Lisa Turpin. A prefect followed in behind the girls. "Sorry for packing so many of you into one room. We had more Ravenclaws than we expected. Have a great night." She smiled at the girls and then turned and left the room.

"Well that was random," an Asian girl, Sue, pointed out. The other girls giggled and then began to find their beds. Hope chose a bed, whose window overlooked Hagrid's hut and the Dark Forest beyond. Although most people would be uncomfortable with that view, Hope found comfort in its solitude. She had always enjoyed hiding in the woods, trying to find its secrets.

A loud _THWUMP_ broke Hope out of her thoughts. She looked up as Morgan set her trunk on the bed next to Hope's. "Do you mind?"

"No, I don't have any friends coming with me." Hope opened her trunk and dug out her long green nightgown. She stepped over to the corner mirror and began to brush out her hair. Morgan joined her, letting down her hair from its straggling bun. Loose, it fell below her shoulders in a straight dark sheet.

"Your hair's pretty," Morgan commented, watching Hope untangle her thick red curls. "Mine's just sort of brown."

"I like your hair," Hope commented, "mine is so conspicuous that everybody knows who it is. At least with brown hair I'd fit in more."

"Yeah, I guess. That makes sense." Morgan replied. Both girls looked at each other seriously for a moment before bursting into a fit of giggles. "We're going to get along brilliantly!" She exclaimed.

Hope just nodded and smiled brightly. "I've never had a friend before!"

Morgan looked at Hope sadly for a moment. "Well you have one now." The two girls gave each other a hug before deciding to go to bed. Tomorrow would come too soon and the girls would have to start classes.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP* was the first thing Hope heard the next morning. She started quickly, losing her balance and toppling onto the floor. Groaning, Hope slowly sat up from the floor and looked around, noticing Morgan turning an alarm off. "Morgan," she grumbled, "you need a better alarm." Morgan looked at Hope and started laughing. Hope glared tiredly at Morgan and threw a pillow at her, slowly pulling herself back into her bed. "What time is it?"

"Six-oh-three." Morgan stated smartly.

"Six?! Why in the world would you get up at six?" Morgan opened her mouth to answer but Hope cut her off, "Tell me in an hour. I'm going back to bed," and with that Hope rolled over and fell back to sleep.

An hour later found Hope dragging herself out of bed and getting ready for breakfast. The girls walked to breakfast and sat down, eagerly munching on the delicious food. Soon Professor Flitwick came around with the timetables.

Monday

Potions (first period)

Defense Against the Dark Arts (second period)

Herbology (fifth period)

Tuesday

Charms (first period)

Transfiguration (second period)

History of Magic (fifth period)

Wednesday

Potions (first period)

Defense Against the Dark Arts (second period)

Herbology (fifth period)

Astronomy (midnight)

Thursday

Charms (first period)

Transfiguration (second period)

Flying (3:30 pm)

Friday

Double Potions (first, second period)

Defense Against the Dark Arts (fourth period)

Morgan and Hope looked at their schedules and grinned. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were definitely going to be their favorite days! They couldn't wait to start class. Luckily they didn't have to because the bell chimed, signaling the need to go to class. Hope and Morgan grabbed their book bags and began their descent to the dungeons. Looking at the crowd of people outside the door, it seemed like it was a mixture of people from all four houses.

"Potions," Hope said. "I think I'll like this one. This and DADA sound like they'll be the most interesting and fun."

"I think I'll like DADA and Charms," Morgan commented. "I'm not sure how I feel about potions. What if I mix something wrong and blow up the dungeons?"

"I don't think that will be you," Hope reassured her. "You seem too careful to do that."

"I hope not. I hear Professor Snape can be really tough if you get on his bad side. Or if you're a Gryffindor. He's the head of Slytherin." The crowd of students entered the dark Potions classroom. Hope glanced to the front to see who this Professor Snape was. She was slightly startled to discover that it was the black-haired man Harry had been staring at the night before.

Snape looked up from his books and papers on his desk. When he caught sight of Hope, he paled and stood up quickly. But in a moment he seemed to collect himself, and the serious frown was back on his face. It happened so quickly that Hope half-wondered if she'd imagined it all.

Hope and Morgan chose a desk together and sat down with their parchment and cauldrons, listening to Snape addressing the class.

"There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to enjoy the subtle science and exact art that is potion making. However, for those select few," he glanced at Draco, and then, shockingly, Hope, "who possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death." Snape's gaze suddenly darted to one of the desks. Hope looked where Snape was heading, noticing that it was Harry, who was busily writing something down. Snape paused, looking down sternly at Harry. "Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not...pay...attention."

Hermione, sitting next to Harry nudged him in the ribs. He looked up to see Snape standing right in front of him.

Snape sneered at him. "Mr. Potter. Our...new...celebrity. Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Hermione's hand shot into the air, but Harry just shrugged. "You don't know? Well, let's try again. Where, Mr. Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?" Hermione raised her hand swiftly, again.

Harry looked down at his desk. "I don't know, Sir." Hope wondered why Snape was giving her brother such a hard time. He seemed to like her, so why was he bullying Harry?

Snape continued to question her twin. "And what is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

Harry seemed to just want this to end. "I don't know, Sir," he answered Snape quietly. Hope raised her own hand to try to take attention away from Harry.

Snape paid no attention, so Hope slowly lowered her hand back to her desk. "Pity. Clearly, fame isn't everything, is it, Mr. Potter? For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

Morgan nudged Hope. "I told you he was a mean one. I'm really afraid to mess up now."

Snape spun around, hearing Morgan's voice. "Miss Ettington, do you have something to say to the class?" Morgan froze, her face paling. Snape stalked over and glared down at her. "You will remain silent in this class unless you are called upon, is that clear?" Morgan gulped and nodded. Fortunately for her, Snape seemed to decide that it was time to formally begin the class. He spun around, long robes billowing behind him, looking very much like a wizard teacher as he faced the classroom.

"We will be making a simple potion to cure boils in this class," he told the students. "You will be working in pairs." Hope and Morgan were fortunate to be put together, and they began to work on following the instructions Snape had provided.

Hope was an expert at brewing potions, since she had been making Wolfsbane potion for Remus for years. When she had been in primary school, her potions professor had discovered that she was incredibly gifted with concocting potions. Knowing that Hope's godfather was a werewolf, her professor contacted Damocles, the inventor of Wolfsbane potion, about teaching Hope how to make his potion. Damocles, although hesitant at first, quickly realized that Hope was a prodigy of potion-making and agreed to teach her. She had stunned him when after only three trial and errors, she had managed to create a perfect sample of the Wolfsbane potion.

Hope quickly shook this memory out of her head, trying to rid herself of the homesickness that had crept upon her. She carefully measured the necessary ingredients and poured them into the cauldron, heating it carefully. Morgan stood back, watching, but knowing better than to interrupt Hope, who had become totally absorbed in her concoction. Morgan's only job was to hand Hope the ingredients she needed, and then to stir for a short while. When the potion appeared to be just the way the instructions had described it, Hope took the cauldron off the fire and set it aside.

A sharp yelp from across the room made the girls jump. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus Finnegan's cauldron into a shapeless blob, and the ruined potion it had once held was now pouring across the floor. Hope and Morgan scrambled up onto their stools, holding their feet out of the way of the spreading spill.

While most of the students were able to avoid touching the spilled potion, Neville was not so fortunate. The potion had splashed all over him when the cauldron exploded, and it had made his skin form painful raw boils. Seamus had to take him out of the class to the Hospital Wing. Snape cleared away the potion with a wave of his wand, and the students climbed down off their stools. The incident was far from over, however, as Snape turned on Harry angrily.

"You – Potter – why didn't you tell him not to add the quills before taking the cauldron off the fire? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

Hope frowned, her hand unconsciously making a fist at her side. Morgan noticed and put a hand on her arm. "Hope, it's not worth it. He'll just get angry at you both, and probably pick on Harry for needing his sister to stand up for him. You'll only make it worse."

_Morgan's right,_ Hope realized, and relaxed. The best thing she could do now was hope that Snape would be favorably impressed by her potion. Maybe if she showed him that the Potters did have some talent, he'd leave Harry alone.

Snape began to walk between the desks, inspecting the students' potions. Some he turned away from almost immediately, others he examined more closely. When he arrived at Draco's table, he wasn't stingy with his praise, however. He continued to brag up Draco's work long after he had left his table, comparing the other student's work to that as a benchmark.

When he stopped at Hope's table, she pushed the cauldron forward so he could see inside. She didn't dare meet the professor's eyes for fear that he'd see the resentment smoldering in them. Snape glanced down into her cauldron, reflexively started to turn away, and then spun back, a look of surprise quickly flashing across his face. He stared into the cauldron for what seemed an eternity. Beside her, Hope could feel Morgan starting to shake, thinking that there was something terribly wrong.

Finally Snape straightened up, looking across the room to Draco. "Mr. Malfoy, it appears that you have a rival in this class. I believe that Miss Potter's potion is at least as well made as your own." Hope smiled as Snape praised her potion. She caught Draco's eye for a moment, and he gave her a look of shock. Draco seemed surprised that she had done so well, but Hope could tell that she'd gained some of his respect.

Suddenly the bell rang and everybody looked at Snape, waiting for him to dismiss them. "Homework for the day: write 25 inches about the Boil-Cure Potion regarding its history, ingredients, and the relevance it has to the wizarding world. It's due first thing Wednesday morning. You are dismissed."

Hope and Morgan quickly gathered their belongings and walked back into the hall. "I thought we were done for," Morgan said. "When he was scrutinizing our potion so closely, I was sure we'd done something horribly wrong. I'm glad I have you for my partner. You're a whiz at this!"

"I can't believe that Snape kept singling Harry out like that," Hope said, feeling so furious that she ignored Morgan's praise. "He doesn't even know anything about Harry, and he's picking on him."

"Miss Potter," Snape's voice drawled behind them. Hope spun around, dropping her books with a thud on the stone floor. She quickly dropped to the floor to pick up her bag.

"P-Professor Snape! I didn't realize you were there," she stuttered.

"Obviously," Snape said drily. "May I have a word with you? In my office." He swiftly spun back around and stalked back toward the classroom. Hope looked at Morgan in fear and quickly walked after him. When she reached the potions classroom, Snape was sitting at his desk, a stern look upon his face. She slowly walked up the aisle until she stood in front of his desk.

"I wanted to discuss your potion with you. That was very proficiently done; I've never seen a first year do that well in all the years I've been teaching here. Do you have prior experience in the potions field?" Snape inquired, looking down his long nose at her.

She looked at Snape in shock. He was being pleasant to her…_who is this man?_ She thought this to herself as she tried to form an answer in her mind. "Thank you professor," she began quietly, "I do have prior experience in potions. I was taught by a world renowned potions-master to brew very complex potions when I was just seven years old."

"Wolfsbane?" Snape questioned bluntly. Hope looked up and made eye contact with him for the first time. His dark, almost black eyes were meant to be expressionless, but Hope could see a hint of some unknown emotion lurking in the depths of them.

"How did you know that?" She exclaimed, eyebrows shooting up her forehead.

"I am well aware that your godfather is a werewolf, Miss Potter," Snape began, "therefore I can safely assume that the complex potion you were referring to was the wolfsbane potion. For a child your age to be able to brew such a difficult potion speaks volumes about you. I look forward to seeing your future work. You are dismissed." Hope stared at him in shock for a moment, before quickly disappearing from his office and making her way to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

As soon as Hope walked into the DADA classroom, she felt like she was going to pass out. Not only did the room smell like garlic, but a headache almost slammed her to the floor in agony. She blindly staggered her way to Morgan's side, sitting down quickly and laying her head on her desk.

Morgan, noticing Hope's forlorn behavior, misinterpreted what had happened. She began to console Hope, "It's all right Hope; Snape hates everybody. I'm only sorry he pulled you aside by yourself. I should've been there with you." Hope smiled slightly at Morgan's comments but did not correct her. She could not concentrate on words at that moment.

When class began, Hope found the strength to lift her head off the desk, and looked straight into the eyes of Professor Quirrell, who was standing right in front of her desk, staring inquisitively at her. She startled and threw her head back in shock. Quirrell then walked back to the front of the classroom and began to stutter his way through introductions. Hope tuned him out and tried to focus on her headache. A pain this badly could only mean one thing…something bad was coming. She could only wonder what that terrible thing was, and what it had to do with the bumbling professor in front of her.

When the bell finally rang, Hope sprung out of her seat and rushed out the door, gulping in the fresh air greedily. Morgan rushed out after her, and placed a hand on Hope's arm. "Are you all right Hope? You're really pale and you look like you're going to faint." Morgan commented softly.

"I think I need to go to the Hospital Wing. My head is killing me. I'll see you at lunch Morgan." Hope replied.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Morgan inquired but Hope nodded and began to walk towards the Infirmary. When she arrived, the matron of the wing, whose name was Madam Pomfrey, began to flutter around her. She sat Hope down on a bed and went to find a headache potion. After giving Hope the potion, Madam Pomfrey made her stay in the Hospital Wing for an hour, before dismissing her to go to lunch.

Hope walked over to the Ravenclaw table and sat next to Morgan. "Are you feeling better?" Morgan asked Hope.

"Yeah I'm fine. I get headaches sometimes; nothing to worry about." Hope reassured Morgan, smiling brightly and then started to eat. They idly chatted about nonsensical things until they finished eating and then went to the library to begin Snape's homework. Both got a good start on it before packing up their stuff and heading to Herbology.

Luckily the class period went by quickly and Morgan and Hope's first day of classes was officially over.

The rest of the week went by similarly. Hope continued to do exceptionally in Potions, but she kept getting the same terrible headaches every time in DADA class. So far, that was her least favorite class, ranking even below History of Magic, which was intensely boring. She occasionally even fell asleep in that class, but it was better than the headaches.

That weekend, Hope wrote a letter home to Remus, telling how her first week of school had gone. She wrote to him about Snape knowing what he was, but also how well she was doing in his class. She also told Remus about the terrible headaches she kept getting in DADA and how Madam Pomfrey had given her a daily potion to try to relieve them. It was working, but she still felt her head throbbing in that class.

She sent Speck off with the letter, and the next day the owl returned with a letter from Remus. He was happy that her Potions class was going well, and he was proud of her for it. Remus also sent his best wishes that she'd get over her headaches soon. He knew that they were usually a portent of something bad, and warned her to tell Dumbledore if the headaches grew worse instead of better.


	3. Chapter 3

The next couple of weeks passed similarly to the first. Hope and Morgan enjoyed their Charms class, led by their head of house, Flitwick, and they especially had fun learning the levitation spell, "_Wingardium Leviosa."_ They practiced in their room, levitating books and clothing to work on their skills.

Hope continued to meet regularly with Professor Snape, who was tutoring her in more difficult potions work than was being taught in class. After one day, when their work took longer than they had expected, Hope realized that she was late for the time she'd promised to meet Morgan to study.

"There's a shortcut that will get you back to the library faster," Snape told her when she explained to him what had happened. He explained the passageway to her, and Hope set off confidently.

However, all the underground corridors started to look the same after a few minutes, and Hope was no longer sure she was going the right way. She stopped for a moment outside of a door to try to get her bearings, and was just about to start off again when a group of Slytherin upperclassmen came around the corner. Hope realized, too late, that the door she was outside was the one leading to the Slytherin common room.

The first of the group, a tall boy with a cruel-looking expression, walked up to her and grabbed a handful of her robe, shoving her back against the wall. "Well, well, what do we have here? Sneaking around Slytherin's corridors, eh? And I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart."

Hope caught sight of Draco at the back of the group. She tried to get his attention by looking his way, but he seemed to be purposefully avoiding her gaze, as if he didn't want to be made fun of by the others if he stood up for her. The older students began to shove Hope around, pushing her down and then tripping her every time she tried to get up. At one point, she hit her head against the wall, and her throbbing headache, which had just begun to go away, rushed back full force. She fell to the ground and this time, she didn't try to get up.

When the Slytherins saw that, they just laughed, leaving Hope lying on the cold stone and said the password to get into their common room. Hope lay with her forehead pressed to the cold floor, trying to calm her headache. She jerked a little when she felt a touch on her shoulder. She lifted her head slowly to see that it was Draco who had knelt beside her. He held out a hand to help her up, but she pushed it aside and stood on her own. Draco looked at her with a hurt gaze. "I was just trying to help."

"If you wanted to help, you should have done it ten minutes ago," Hope snapped, collecting her bag of books and walking away. She didn't look back, but she could feel Draco's eyes on her all the way to the end of the corridor, when she turned and was no longer in his sight.

She felt too horrible to go to the library, so she simply made the best way she could out of the dungeon area and up to Ravenclaw Tower, where she collapsed onto her bed and tried to relax and calm her headache. She was a bit upset with herself, too. _Maybe I shouldn't have been so sharp with Draco_, she thought. He was only a first year, so he wouldn't have had any authority with the others. They'd probably just have ended up shoving Draco around too. Finally, worn out and aching, she fell asleep.

She woke up when the door opened and Morgan came in, carrying her books. "Hope? Are you in here? I waited for you, but you never showed up?"

"Uh, I…." Hope let her voice trail off. Her headache was still making speaking painful.

"Hope! Are you all right? What happened? You've got a big bruise on your cheek and you're as pale as the Grey Lady! Did you blow up a potion in Snape's office?"

"No, I tried to take a shortcut in the dungeons and ran into some Slytherins," Hope said, sitting up slowly and wincing as the movement jarred her bruises. Morgan looked at Hope sympathetically and sat down beside her on the bed.

"Get some rest and then we'll work on our History of Magic homework after dinner." Morgan told Hope, gently smoothing some of Hope's unruly red curls out of her face. Hope nodded and curled back into bed, quickly falling asleep.

When she woke up, Hope was feeling much better. The girls ran down to the Great Hall for dinner and sat at the Ravenclaw table. On their way back to the tower, Hope and Morgan ran into Draco and his cronies. Hope and Draco both looked at each other awkwardly for a moment, both opening their mouths to speak before realizing that people were around them, and instead just walked away from each other. _So close,_ Hope sighed, _this is going to be harder than I thought._

The girls arrived back to their dorm and began to work on their homework. A few hours later found them in the library, desperately researching the terrible history assignment. Morgan frowned at her piece of parchment. "How am I supposed to write fifteen inches on the history of wand-making in the fifteenth century?"

"It's not that bad. I've already got almost half." Hope replied.

"I do too, but I've managed to discuss almost everything I know in that amount of page."

"Morgan, you're practically a textbook unto yourself on wands. How are you having trouble?" Hope walked over to look at Morgan's paper. "Oi, that's why! Your handwriting is ridiculous! It's so small! Can you even read that?"

"Yes."

"Maybe you should write it over, in bigger script. You write so fast that it wouldn't be too much of an issue for you." Hope giggled, sometimes Morgan was so oblivious!

The next day brought the girls' first flying lesson! The first years all gathered around the Quidditch pitch and listened as Madam Hooch began to speak, "Good afternoon, class."

"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch," the students replied.

"Good afternoon, Amanda, good afternoon. Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left side of their broomstick. Come on now, hurry up. Stick your right hand over the broom and say, Up!" Madam Hooch commanded, stepping back to watch us try.

"Up!" Hope and Morgan heard all around them, watching as the brooms remained on the ground for most students. Suddenly, Harry's broom flew into his hand.

"Whoa," Harry gasped, stumbling back a bit.

Hope smiled at Harry before confidently saying, "Up," and caught the broomstick quickly. She brightly smiled at Morgan, who was struggling to make her broomstick obey.

Suddenly Hope decided to look in Draco's direction and noticed that his broom was in his hand too. They awkwardly made eye contact, before quickly looking away.

Noticing that most students were struggling with making their broomsticks obey, Madam Hooch said, "With feeling!"

Morgan's broom finally obeyed her, and the girls shot a quick smile at each other before looking across from them at Ron just as his broom hit him in the face. The girls started giggling, laughing even harder when Ron shot an evil glare at them.

Noticing that all of the students had their brooms, Madam Hooch continued her lesson, "Now, once you've got hold of your broom, I want you to mount it. And grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end." She paused as the class mounted their brooms. "When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, and then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle...3...2...*tweet*"

The whole class looked up in shock as Neville's broom began to lift into the air. Neville looked terrified as he climbed higher and higher. "Oh," he whimpered, grasping the broom tighter.

"Mr. Longbottom," Madam Hooch began, looking up at him sternly.

A Gryffindor girl asked, "Neville, what are you doing?" Hope looked at her sternly. _Can't they tell that he isn't doing this on purpose? Why won't somebody help him?_ Hope wondered, looking around at her fellow first years.

Students began to repeat Neville's name as another oblivious boy stated, "We're not supposed to take off, yet."

Madam Hooch, somehow not catching on that Neville wasn't doing this on purpose, stuttered, "M-M-Mr. Longbottom Mr. Longbottom!"

Neville screamed as his broom soared higher and hit against the side of the locker room. It bounced off of it and then began to race toward the ground. Madam Hooch pulled her wand out to help him, but instead she flew to the ground to avoid being hit. He continued to fly around haphazardly on the broom before running into a statue, getting caught on it, and then crashing to the ground onto his arm.

Madam Hooch shouted, "Everyone out of the way!" She rushed through the crowd and knelt beside the sniffling boy. "Come on, get up."

That Gryffindor girl asked, "Is he alright?"

Hope looked at her sharply. "Does he look okay?" She snapped. "Let's throw you out a two story window and see how you feel!" The girl looked at her shocked and Hope just glared. _People are so stupid sometimes!_ She sighed.

Madam Hooch gently picked his arm up and Neville whimpered. "Oh, oh, oh, oh dear. It's a broken wrist. Tch, tch, tch. Good boy, come on now, up you get. Everyone's to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say, Quidditch." Madam Hooch went into the castle, not noticing that Draco had stolen Neville's Remembrall from the ground.

Draco snickered, tossing the ball into the air. "Did you see his face? Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze, he'd have remembered to fall on his fat ass." He sneered, causing the other Slytherins to laugh.

Harry glared at Draco. "Give it here, Malfoy," he barked. Hope looked at Draco scathingly. She couldn't believe how wrong she was about him. _He's nothing more than an evil jerk!_

"No. I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." He hopped onto his broom and began to fly. "How 'bout up on the roof?" He went higher and then turned back to face Harry. "What's the matter, Potter? Bit beyond your reach?"

Harry grabbed his broom and began to get on it. Hermione stopped him, saying, "Harry, no! You heard what Madam Hooch said! Besides, you don't even know how to fly." Harry ignored her, flying away. Hermione sighed, "What an idiot."

"Leave him alone Hermione! Just because you're not brave enough to stand up to Draco doesn't mean that Harry isn't!" Hope retorted to Hermione, glowering intensely at her. Hermione looked at her hurt, however Hope just ignored her and turned back to watch what was happening in the air.

She watched as Harry floated in the air across from Draco. "Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!" He exclaimed seriously.

"Is that so?" Draco smirked. Harry made a dash for him, but Draco avoided his reach with a quick circle. "Have it your way, then!" He jeered, throwing the Remembrall into the air. Harry zoomed after the ball, speeding towards a tower. Hope gasped, gripping Morgan's arm tightly. Just as he was about to hit a window, he caught it, and then headed back to the group. The students all began to cheer and ran to see him. Hope sighed in relief before throwing her arms around her brother.

When she pulled away, she slapped his arm. "Ow! What was that for?!" Harry shouted.

"Don't ever do something like that again!" Hope exclaimed, hugging him again. "I was so worried!" Harry smiled at her and patted her on the head, causing her to scowl at him.

Suddenly Professor McGonagall appeared from the castle. "Harry Potter? Follow me." She spoke sternly. Hope looked at Harry sympathetically, watching as he followed McGonagall into Hogwarts.

Draco and his weirdo friends began to laugh and Hope stomped over to them angrily. Furious, Hope pulled her arm back and slapped him hard across the face. Draco looked at her in shock, guilt filling his eyes. "Don't go anywhere near my brother or me again, Malfoy!" She growled. His friends stepped toward her menacingly but Draco put his arms up, stopping them. She glared at the three boys and walked away, pulling Morgan with her.

"I hate him!" She shouted as she and Morgan made their way back to Ravenclaw tower. "He is so infuriating! Who does he think he is?" She fumed, not allowing Morgan to reply as she started in on him again. "Can you believe what he did to Neville?! And to Harry?! I could just punch him!" She screeched.

"I think you just did!" Morgan giggled, causing Hope to look at her sternly. The two girls made eye contact for two seconds before bursting into a fit of giggles. "I can't believe you did that!" Morgan laughed, "You are officially my best friend, smacking Draco in the face like that." The two continued to laugh as they made their way into their dorm.

A few hours later, the two were sitting together in the library working on their Potions homework when Padma Patil came running in. "Hope, Hope, is it true?"

"What?" Hope asked, wondering whether someone had been blabbing about her slapping Draco.

"You don't know? Harry made the Gryffindor Quidditch team as Seeker and he didn't tell you?" Padma looked incredulous.

"What? He did what? I didn't think First Years could even be on the teams!" Hope yelped, leaping to her feet. "Sorry, Morgan, I have to go."

"Okay. If I have any more questions I'll ask you later," Morgan said, diving back into a thick book detailing the uses of phoenix tears in potions and their healing properties. Hope dashed off down the halls toward the Gryffindor tower. She had no idea how she'd see Harry if he was inside, since she didn't have the password, but she needed to hear about this from Harry firsthand.

She was in luck, as Harry was just coming up the stairs with a group of the other Gryffindors. When he saw Hope, he shouted across the landing to her, "Hope! You'll never guess what happened! I'm Gryffindor's seeker for Quidditch!"

"I heard. Padma Patil told me. What are they thinking? You haven't even had one flying lesson yet! You'll get yourself killed!"

"Oliver Wood, the captain, is going to teach me. I'll be fine, Hope."

"Just be careful, okay?" Hope said. Harry nodded as Hermione ran up.

"I've just heard Harry. I want to show you two something I found in the trophy room. I think you'll like it, and it should make you feel better." The twins looked at Hermione skeptically but followed her anyway, Ronald trailing after the three of them. The four of them approached a trophy case. Hermione pointed at a plaque of Quidditch players from the 1970s. One of the names on the plaque read "James Potter – Seeker". Hope and Harry looked at it closely, Harry in disbelief and Hope in sadness. Unlike Harry, she had known all about her father being on the Quidditch team. She was happy that Harry was going to be following in their father's footsteps, but sad that her dad couldn't be there to support them.

Hope broke out of her trance when Ron started speaking, "Whoa. Harry, you never told me your father was a Seeker, too."

"I-I didn't know." Harry replied, glancing at the plaque a moment longer before the three headed back towards the dorms. As they were almost to the Ravenclaw common room, the staircases suddenly moved in the opposite direction, moving them to a part of the castle they had never been in before.

The four children lurched forward, grabbing onto the railings. "What's happening?" Harry asked, looking at Hope and Hermione for the answer.

Hermione looked back at him. "The staircases change, remember?" She replied, just as the staircase stopped moving.

Harry quickly stepped off of the steps, helping Hope up. "Let's go this way." He said, pointing right.

Ron followed behind the twins, muttering, "Before the staircase moves again." They opened a door and walked into a spooky, dark room. Hope got chills running down her arm as she peered through the dark.

"Does anyone feel like...we shouldn't be here?" Hope asked uncomfortably. Harry noticed and quickly grasped her hand, causing her to smile at him gratefully.

"We're not supposed to be here. This is the 3rd floor. It's forbidden." Hermione responded. The four began to turn around to leave the room when a flame lit up and Mrs. Norris, Filch's creepy cat, walked into the room.

The four jumped, and Harry whispered, "Let's go." Mrs. Norris suddenly meowed, causing the four children to realize that Filch was nearby.

Ron freaked. "It's Filch's cat!"

"Run!" Harry yelled, grabbing Hope's arm and pulling her with him. As they ran down the corridor, flames began to light up. At the end of the corridor stood a door…a locked door.

Harry desperately tried the handle but it wouldn't open. "It's locked!" He hissed.

Ron lost his head completely, "That's it, we're done for!"

Hope rolled her eyes. "Oh, move over!" She replied, pulling her wand out of her robes. "_Aguamenti_!" She exclaimed, causing a geyser of water to flow from her wand. "Oops, wrong spell, sorry." She paused. "Oh, _Alohomora_." The door unlocked. "Get in," she whispered, pushing them forward.

"_Aguamenti_? _Alohomora_?" Ron asked, confused.

"_Alohamora_ is from our Charms text book: Standard book of spells, Chapter 7. _Aguamenti_ is a sixth year spell. Hope, how did you know it?" Hermione asked.

"Not really the time to discuss my magical prowess, Hermione," Hope whispered, annoyed.

The four could hear Filch through the door, "Anyone here, my sweet? Come on."

"Filch is gone." Hermione observed.

"Probably thinks this door's locked." Ron stated.

"It was locked." Hermione replied.

"And for good reason." Harry hissed, looking at a three headed dog sleeping in front of them. Suddenly the dog started to wake up. When it noticed the four First Years, it began to growl menacingly at them.

"AHHHHHHH!" They screamed, running out the door. It took all four of them to shut the stupid thing, with the dog trying to push its way out. They re-locked the door and took off running, the Gryffindors going one way, and Hope going the other.

Hope finally made it back to the common room, and leaned against the door gasping for air. "What happened?" Morgan asked, causing Hope to jump.

"You'll never believe what happened to us…"Hope started, telling Morgan about the events that had just occurred. The two girls stayed up most of the night discussing the three-headed dog and other subjects, including Harry making the Quidditch team.

For the next few days, the whole school was abuzz with the news. Harry Potter, the youngest Hogwarts Quidditch player in a century! Everyone wanted to ask Hope about her brother. She found it a little exasperating some days, and she and Morgan took to studying in their room to avoid the constant stream of people that would come to Hope in the library.

One of the few classes where Hope didn't have to hear people whispering about her brother was Potions. Snape would punish any student he heard talking in his class without permission. He'd already given Dean Thomas two feet extra of composition on the Forgetfulness Potion when Dean had been telling his partner about Harry.

"Today," Snape announced as he began the class, "We will be working with different partners than usual. You have been assigned a name, and you will work with him or her to make the Forgetfulness Potion."

Morgan looked nervous. "I hope I don't get paired with Crabbe or Goyle. I think they'd blow their cauldron up like Neville did that one day."

They'd missed the first few names, but then Hope heard Morgan's name. "Morgan Ettington, Harry Potter."

"Morgan, you got Harry," Hope said, nudging her friend, who was so nervous she hadn't even heard Snape. "You'd better get over there before Snape gets mad at you." Morgan picked up her books and supplies and walked over to Harry's desk. Hope turned back to Snape just in time to hear him drawl, "Draco Malfoy, Hope Potter."

Hope couldn't believe it. No way. She couldn't do it. How was she supposed to sit and work with Draco when she'd slapped him in front of half the First Years just a few days ago? They wouldn't need to blow up their cauldron to have an explosion.

Hope could hear Draco walking up to her desk, and she moved as far as she could to the end of her bench. He sat down, and she risked a sideways glance to see that he was avoiding her just as much as she was him. They sat like that, both staring straight ahead, until Hope realized that Snape was staring at them. "Mr. Malfoy, Miss Potter, is there a problem with the assigned partners?" he asked in a voice that dared them to disagree with him.

"No sir!" they both responded quickly. Hope grabbed for the sprigs of Valerian at the same time as Draco did, and they ended up snatching each other's hands instead of the plant cuttings. They both looked at each other, startled, and then drew back quickly.

"Um, I'm…I'm…" Hope stuttered, blushing. Draco glanced at her.

"I…You…Harry…" he muttered at the same time as Hope started to say, "I'm sorry I hit you so hard!"

"And I acted like a jerk," Draco said reluctantly, as if he were forcing himself to say it.

"Yeah, you did!" Hope retorted. "And I'm not sure I've forgiven you for all that. But we can't go on not talking to each other like this. We'll never get a potion made at this rate. We're already behind; we'll never finish in time."

"Oh, yes we will," Draco said, quickly grabbing a handful of mistletoe berries. "We're the smartest students in Potions. Together, we'll get this made faster and better than any of the others." Hope rolled her eyes, but she had to agree. Between the two of them, they were geniuses at potions.

At the end of class, Hope was more than willing to admit that Draco had been right. Snape had praised their potion and used it as the example to which he compared the other students'. Hope was glad to see that Harry and Morgan had done a very good job as well.

When they walked out of the class, Morgan hurried over to Hope, wide-eyed. "I couldn't believe he put you with Draco, of all people! I thought you might slap him again!"

"No, we sort of made up. Not entirely; he's still got a ways to go there, but at least I don't want to kill him anymore."

"Too bad your brother doesn't feel the same way," Morgan said solemnly. "The whole time we were working, he kept looking at you two and muttering, 'If he touches her, I'll kill him. If he looks at her, I'll kill him. If he so much as breathes on her, I'll curse him so hard all those pureblood ancestors of his will feel it!' It got on my nerves. And he was so distracted he almost added the Lethe water at the wrong time! I thought he was going to blow us up! And to think I was worried about Crabbe and Goyle!"

That weekend Harry had his first practice with the Quidditch team. When he got back, he told his friends all about it. Apparently Wood was a really good teacher and it made Harry feel a lot better about being on the team even though he had known nothing about Quidditch before coming to Hogwarts.

Next week was Halloween. The girls' classes flew by quickly and before they knew it, it was time for the feast! Hope and Morgan were happily munching on delicious treats when suddenly, Professor Quirrell came flying into the room, screaming, "TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON! T-TROOLLL IN THE DUNGEON!" He quickly stopped and there was utter silence, everyone in shock. "Thought you ought to know," he whimpered, before falling into a dead faint. Hope rolled her eyes at the idiot, before her brain finally comprehended what the dork had said. _TROLL?!_

The room was silent, and then everyone started freaking out, screaming and running. Suddenly, Dumbledore shouted, "SILLLLLEEENNNNCEEEEE!" Everyone stopped and stared at him. "Everyone will please, not panic. Now, Prefects will lead their houses back to the dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons." He stated, before leading the teachers away.

Penelope Clearwater, the 5th year Ravenclaw prefect, started gathering all of the first years. "To the common room everyone," she said, ushering the petrified students up the stairs and back into the common room.

As Hope and Morgan made their way up, a thought hit Hope. "The troll is in the dungeon…that's where the Slytherin common room is. Are they going to run into the troll?" She asked Morgan.

"I don't know. Maybe it'll squish Draco and then all of our problems will disappear," Morgan responded, causing Hope to slightly hit Morgan's arm, giggling.

The next morning, Hope and Morgan made their way down to the Great Hall, hearing whispers about Harry and his friends fighting the troll last night. Hope looked at Morgan in exasperation and stalked over to the Gryffindor table. "Get into trouble last night?" She questioned strictly, causing Harry to gulp in fright.

"Hope? I don't know what you're talking ab-OW!" He shouted, as Hope smacked him upside the head. "What was that for?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't you lie to me, Harry James Potter! I can't leave you alone for two seconds, can I?" She berated him. "You need to be more careful Harry, you're very important, and you have to watch your back. Promise me you'll be careful?" She asked, pouting slightly.

Harry looked at her face and groaned, nodding. "I'll be careful. I promise. Now stop pouting before your face stays stuck like that!" Hope stuck her tongue out childishly before pulling Morgan back over to the Ravenclaw table to eat breakfast.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, the first Quidditch match was set to begin. Unfortunately, Harry's earlier confidence about Quidditch was ruined by his sudden nerves. Especially because the match was against Slytherin, and that meant that it was going to be INTENSE! If normal classes between the two houses were tense, that was nothing compared to the hatred that came out during the Quidditch match. Hope was pretty nervous about it too, and noticing that Harry had left breakfast early, had slipped out too, Morgan following.

Hope quietly knocked on the Gryffindor locker room door and a nice African-American witch let her in, Angelina Johnson she believed her name was. She walked over to Harry and tightly hugged him. "You're going to be fantastic Harry!" Hope reassured him, Morgan nodding behind her. Harry smiled and hugged his twin again.

"Thanks. I'm so nervous, I'm afraid I'm going to fall off my broom!" Harry exclaimed.

"Well don't do that Harry! I don't want to have a heart attack!" Hope teased, causing Harry to laugh.

Suddenly, a tall brunette walked over to Harry. Hope looked up at him, realizing that it was the Quidditch captain, Oliver Wood. _He really is as cute as all of the girls said he was_, Hope realized, sighing slightly. Oliver smiled down at Harry, "Scared, Harry?" He asked.

"A little bit." Harry replied, causing Hope to squeeze his hand and Oliver to look down at her with a smile. Hope's heart fluttered in her chest.

"That's all right. I felt the same way before my first game." Oliver reassured.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Er, I don't really remember. I took a bludger to the head 2 minutes in. Woke up in the hospital a week later." Oliver answered, causing Hope to gasp slightly. "That won't happen to Harry though, Hope." Oliver told her, causing her eyes to widen when she realized that he knew her name. "Fred and George will make sure he stays safe."

"They better," Hope stated, "Or they'll have to deal with me!" She gave Harry one last hug and smiled up at the beautiful Scottish boy, before following Morgan to the Ravenclaw side of the Quidditch pitch.

Hope and Morgan watch their first Quidditch match with excitement in their eyes. At first, everything was going fine; Gryffindor was in the lead and the snitch was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, the big Slytherin chaser grabbed a beater's bat and swung the bludger towards Oliver. It hit him in the stomach, causing him to fall off his broom, towards the ground. Hope and Morgan gasped, their hands automatically finding each other's as the match got more intense.

Abruptly, Harry's broom began to try to throw him off. It bucked and thrashed around, causing Harry to lose his seat and began to fall off. Luckily, he caught the broom with his hands, and the broom went psycho trying to throw him off. A disruption in the staff seating caught Hope's attention, and when she looked back at Harry, he was back on his broom and shooting after the snitch.

Harry quickly caught up to the Slytherin Seeker and began to ram his broom into him. The two struggle against each other before lurching down towards the ground. As the ground got closer and closer, the Slytherin Seeker pulled back up but Harry kept going. Harry then decided to stand up on his broom, reaching his hand out to catch the snitch. He toppled over his broom and fell onto the ground. He then began to gag, causing Hope to look in confusion. The snitch suddenly popped out of his mouth and landed in his hands, causing Hope and Morgan to start cheering! _Gryffindor won!_ Hope giggled. _Fantastic!_

"He's got the Snitch! Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the Snitch!" The announcer shouted, causing every house but Slytherin to start cheering. Today was a good day; Harry won his first game AND Slytherin lost!

After the game, Hope and Morgan joined the crowd congratulating Harry on his win. They only left when the Gryffindors all went into their own common room to celebrate.

That night, Hope and Morgan lay awake for a long time, discussing the match.

"Harry was brilliant today, managing to catch the Snitch after all the trouble he had. Crazy how his broom started spazzing out up there, huh," Morgan said. "I thought he was going to fall off for sure."

"I know. That was scary. I'd have been after Oliver Wood for sure if Harry got hurt. He promised Harry would be safe in the match."

"Uh-huh." Morgan sounded a little spaced out.

"Morgan? What….not you too! Hey, if anything he's _my_ brother's team captain, so I get first call."

"But…he's so nice. And did you hear his accent? He's cute," Morgan said in a dreamy voice.

"Oh, Morgan." Hope rolled over on her bed. "See you in the morning." She rolled over and promptly fell asleep.

After a potions class a few weeks later, Draco was waiting in the hall for Hope. "Can you meet me in the library this afternoon, Hope? I'd like to talk to you." Hope nodded. Her relationship with the Slytherin First Year was not quite as tense as it had been before, but they were still edgy and uncomfortable around each other. Snape continued to pair them up regularly to work on potions, likely because they were his best students. Hope still found that she was uncomfortable speaking to Draco any further than to ask him for needed ingredients or to tell him what the instructions for brewing the potion were.

After Herbology, Hope walked to the library. Morgan had decided not to join her when she found out that Hope was going to meet Draco. "I'm not sure I could resist trying to smack him like you did if he said something mean. Or telling you to slap him a good one," Morgan chuckled.

Hope made her way through the crowded but silent library until she found Draco sitting alone at a table with a book in front of him. It was open, but he didn't seem to be reading, just staring at the book, deep in though.

"Hmm-um," Hope cleared her throat discreetly, trying to catch Draco's attention. He looked up and saw her standing there, and moved over so she could sit down. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't come," he said.

"No, I just got delayed a little. Herbology ran later than usual; Michael Corner got his hand stuck in a small sample of Devil's Snare."

"Ooh. That's a nasty one. Can't believe Sprout was showing that around in a class of First Years."

"She said we needed to be able to recognize it," Hope replied. "Not that it's too hard to mistake when it's got a vine as thick as your wrist and is trying to choke you to death."

Draco chuckled. "Yes. Devil's Snare's a pretty obvious one." Hope looked at the book Draco had open. It was a catalogue of common plants used in First-Year Potions.

"Getting some work done on that essay Snape assigned today?" she asked. "I should probably work on it too." She got out her parchment and quill and the pair wrote in companionable silence until the bell rang to summon the students to supper.

As the winter came, Hope and Morgan were forced to stay indoors as the weather became colder. They spent a lot of time in the common room, playing card games and learning to play wizard's chess, (Ron was teaching them). Hope had some trouble understanding the moves at first, but one afternoon when she and Morgan were playing, she suddenly realized that she had the perfect move. She slid her bishop along the board and announced, "Checkmate!"

Morgan looked at the board, startled, trying to figure out how Hope had done it. "That was brilliant!" She exclaimed when she finally figured it out. "Good job, Hope!"

"Only fair, you've won the last five games, Moe," Hope teased.

"Moe?" Morgan asked with a small confused frown.

"Yeah. You need a nickname; it's too hard to say Morgan all the time. You do like Moe, don't you?"

"Sure. Its…"

"Fantastic!"

"I was going to say brilliant, but that works too." Morgan chuckled. "Moe. I like it."

Time passed swiftly for Hope and Morgan until, before they even realized it, Christmas was only a week away. Hope had decided to stay at Hogwarts in order to spend the free time getting to know Harry a bit better. Morgan was staying also, which would make the holidays even more fun.

The girls enjoyed watching the castle decorated for Christmas. Their head of house, Flitwick, was in charge of ornamenting the tree, and the girls observed him sending brilliant sparkling lights high into the top branches. _It was a good thing he was so talented at charms_, Hope thought. Otherwise it would have been very awkward to have put the shortest wizard in charge of decorating the enormous tree.

Christmas morning, Hope awoke to the sound of an owl fluttering against the window. She climbed slowly out of bed, stumbling to the window to push it open and let the owl in. Morgan was already awake, taking a package from another owl and then giving it a small treat before it flew away.

Hope didn't recognize the owl that swooped into the room when she opened the window. She'd sent Speck off to Remus a few days ago with a Christmas letter, his month's supply of Wolfsbane potion, and a picture of her, Morgan and Harry in the library, taken with her new camera. She'd assumed that when Remus sent a letter back, it would be with Speck. For a moment she was worried. Had something happened to her owl? Then she opened the note attached to the small package and began to read it. She was shocked when she recognized Draco's slanting, neat handwriting.

_Dear Hope,_

_I thought you might appreciate this, since you are so talented in Potions._

_Draco_

Hope tore open the package to find a book of potions far more advanced than her own textbook. She felt a little guilty; she hadn't bought anything for Draco! _Maybe I could find something over the rest of the holidays_, she thought as she began to glance through the book. She pored over the pages, studying the complicated recipes, until Morgan tapped her on the shoulder.

"Oh, you got a book too!" she said, holding up her own, which was a biography of Rowena Ravenclaw. "My parents bought it as soon as they found out which house I was in, but they saved it for Christmas. Who gave you yours?"

Hope was about to reply when she heard a tapping at the window. Two more owls, one of whom was Speck, were outside. She hurried to let them in. Speck was carrying a letter from Remus and a small locket, which the letter told Hope had belonged to her mother when she was at Hogwarts. The second owl turned out to be from Snape. The package it brought contained a few small pouches of various rare potion ingredients.

Morgan pulled a package out from under her bed, which she had wrapped in blue and bronze paper. "Happy Christmas, Hope," she said. The present turned out to be a scarf in Ravenclaw colors, with the letter H worked into it. "I knit a lot," Morgan explained. "It's a little more unique than the usual ones. I knew you liked scarves."

Hope then pulled out a large present in teal and grey wrapping paper and handed it to Morgan. It was a cute grey sweater-dress with kittens on it. Morgan squealed as she opened it and hurried to put it on. Hope smiled, happy that Morgan liked her present, as she too got ready for the day.

A second owl arrived for Morgan from a cousin who had just left Hogwarts, containing a package of homemade sweets, which Morgan offered to share with Hope. After the girls had gotten their gifts, they walked to the Gryffindor common room to see Harry and Ron. Both were wearing thick knitted sweaters, and they handed the girls each a sweater when they came in.

"Mum made them," Ron explained, looking rather embarrassed. "She sent them for you."

"Your mum's so sweet," Hope said, putting on her own forest-green sweater. Then she handed Harry and Ron the gifts she had for them. Ron's present was a bag of fudge that Hope and Morgan had made, and Harry's was a subscription to a popular Quidditch magazine.

Harry handed Hope and Morgan small packages. Morgan's contained some chocolate frogs, and Harry had bought a charm bracelet for Hope with a lightning bolt, a cauldron, an eagle, a book, a letter H, and the Hogwarts crest. "I love it!" Hope exclaimed, throwing herself into her twin's arms. Harry chuckled and hugged her back. "Will you help me put it on?" He nodded and once the bracelet was on her wrist, she cast a spell to make sure that it wouldn't accidentally fall off her wrist.

Thinking of Draco at that moment, which was bad considering she was with his enemy, she decided to ask Harry a question. "I have a friend who got me a Christmas present but I didn't get him anything. What do boys like?" Harry looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Well…does he like Quidditch?" Harry asked.

"Yes. But I don't want to get him something Quidditch. I feel like that would be an obvious gift for someone who knows almost everything about Quidditch already." Hope responded.

"Well I think Wood is a little too old for you, Hope," Harry told Hope. She looked at him in confusion.

"Wood?! I'm not talking about Wood, Harry!" She exclaimed, blushing.

"Oh, sorry. I just assumed when you stated that he knew a lot about Quidditch. Let me think," Harry paused. "What house is he in?" Hope froze…_I can't tell him Slytherin, he'd guess that it was Draco and then I'd get into trouble…But I also can't lie to him, I'm rubbish at lying._ Hope sighed.

"He's a Sthemm," Hope muttered, purposefully slurring the word.

"Slytherin?! Is that what you just said?" Harry shouted, causing Hope to wince.

"Maybe…"she cringed, expecting the argument to start.

"Is it bloody Malfoy?" Ron cut in, looking at her like she was insane. Hope looked at her feet and nodded, causing Morgan to laugh at her.

"Malfoy gave you a present?" Harry asked. "Are you sure it isn't cursed?"

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Hope shouted, finally having enough. "Draco is my friend, he isn't going to curse me. Now I know that you two hate each other but seriously, I'm allowed to have my own friends." She sighed. "Now let's just forget I even mentioned this, it's obvious you're not going to help me now." She went to turn away and Harry caught her arm.

"Hey, I'm sorry okay? It just surprised me when you said Malfoy. Come sit down and we'll think of something." Harry responded. "Can't have him thinking badly of the best Potter twin, can we?" Hope rolled her eyes but hugged her brother. They then all sat down on the couch.

"You could always send him a clock." Ron suggested. Everyone looked at him like he was insane. "You know, one of those kooky clocks that has the annoying bird that goes off every ten minutes. I'm sure Malfoy would love something as annoying as he is." Morgan giggled, and then slapped Ron in the back of the head when Hope glared at him.

"Oooo I know!" Morgan exclaimed, "I've heard of these one journal things where you can communicate between two people. You could get one for him and one for you! Then you two could talk about potions all day long and I wouldn't have to hear a word of it!" She giggled, turning to Harry and Ron. "You should hear the two of them when we're studying. 'Oh Hope, did you know that the properties of acromantula venom are blah blah blah…' or 'Hey Draco, let's look at this book and learn how to brew Polyjuice Potion…' It's never-ending torture, listening to those two." She ranted, causing Hope and the boys to start laughing. "I swear, those two should just marry each other." She finished, mouth opening in shock when she realized just WHO she said that to.

"She's just kidding!" Hope quickly said, shooting Morgan a sharp glare. "We're just friends, I swear, Harry!" Harry looked at her with an eyebrow quirked, but nodded when he noticed her pleading face.

"I'm hungry!" Ron bellowed, "Let's go eat breakfast." Harry sent Hope one last look that said, '_It's not over yet kiddo,_' before following after Ron.

"Good job Moe," Hope whispered to Morgan jokingly, and Morgan ducked her head in embarrassment.

"Sorry!" She murmured. The two girls quickly followed after the Gryffindor boys.

"Those journal things are a FANTASTIC idea though. Do you have any idea where I could find some?" Hope asked her.

"No, but maybe your favorite professor would know! You could always ask him after breakfast. You two are his favorite students, and when you have little babies, those will be his favorite students, and the circle will continue forever-AH!" Morgan shrieked as she dodged Hope's flailing arms.

After breakfast, Hope grudgingly took Morgan's advice and sought out Professor Snape. She walked down to the dungeons and knocked on his door. Before she asked for his help, Hope wished him a Merry Christmas and thanked him for the lovely present. She then pulled out a neatly wrapped gift for him. He looked at her curiously before carefully opening it. It was a large black cloak, designed exactly how he liked it. However, the material was a little nicer than what he normally wore. He thanked her for the gift; he wasn't used to people willingly spending time with him, let alone getting him something nice.

After telling him about her idea for a present, he willingly agreed to help her. All she needed to do was get two journals and he would do the spell that would connect them. Luckily, he had two empty journals that looked brand-new, both of them Slytherin green. He engraved one with Hope's full name and the other with Draco's full name. He then charmed them and they tested them out. Thrilled, Hope smiled brightly at Snape and threw her arms around him. He froze slightly, before cautiously hugging her back. She pulled back and waved goodbye, before returning to her dorm to hide the journals and return to her friends.

The rest of the day passed by quickly and then it was time for bed. The four friends decided to sleep over in the Gryffindor common room, thinking that it would be fun and a fantastic way for the Potter siblings to bond. Harry snuck out earlier to look in the Restricted Section with one of his Christmas presents…an invisibility cloak! It had once belonged to the twins' father but then somebody gave it to him. Remus had told Hope all about the trouble the Marauders would get into with that thing. She sighed, hoping Harry would use it better than her father had. Something told her that he wouldn't, though.

Suddenly, a hand shaking Hope woke her. She groggily looked up from the couch and saw Harry standing over her. "What is going on?" Hope asked. "Nothing is worth waking me up at three in the morning unless the castle is on fire."

"You have to come with me, Hope! Ron! Morgan! You've really got to see this! You've got to see this!" Morgan jumped up, but Ron remained tucked beneath his blankets, mumbling something unintelligible. "Ron, Ron, come on. Get up!"

"Why?" Ron grumbled.

"There's something you've got to see. Now, come on!" Harry insisted, dragging Ron to his feet. The four children crammed themselves under the invisibility cloak.

"Ow, Ron, you're stepping on my foot!" Morgan yelped in an aggrieved tone.

"I'm not on anyone's foot! But someone's got their bloody elbow in my gut!" Ron shouted.

"Sorry, that was me," Harry said, shifting his position and bumping into Hope, who went sprawling, dragging the cloak off all four and wrapping it around herself.

"Hope? Hope, are you okay? Where are you?" Harry asked, kneeling down and beginning to feel across the floor.

"Rmmph Hummmr" Hope grumbled, her voice muffled by the cloak. Harry finally succeeded in finding her and unwrapping the cloak.

"All right, enough is enough," Hope muttered, climbing onto Harry's back and draping the cloak over them all. "Let's go see whatever this thing is. Harry, don't you dare drop me."

The four made their way through winding corridors until they reached a small room. Harry couldn't open the door, since he was holding onto Hope with both hands, so Morgan pulled the latch open and they all went inside. Hope removed the cloak and they all appeared in the room.

"What's so special about an empty room?" Morgan asked. "I don't see anything interesting in here. Unless you mean those spiders in the corner."

"Spiders?! Where?" Hope shrieked. "Harry, don't put me down!"

"Sp-spiders," Ron gasped faintly. "I hate spiders." His face went slightly green.

"Don't you see it?" Harry asked, ignoring the others. "The mirror, over there." He pointed to an ancient and dusty relic sitting in a corner of the room.

"So? It's just an old mirror," Morgan grumbled. "I knew I should have stayed in the room."

"Come on. Come. Come look, it's our parents!" Harry insisted. He walked over to the mirror, still carrying Hope. She gasped as she looked into the reflection. There they were, James and Lily Potter, just like the pictures in her book from Remus. They seemed so real, like they were really there, just behind the twins.

Ron walked over, looking puzzled as he gazed into the mirror. "I only see me," he muttered.

Harry moved over, nearly dropping Hope as he did so. "Look in properly. Go on. Stand there. There. You see them, don't you? That's our dad."

Ron stared at the mirror as hard as he could. "That's me! Only, I'm head boy...and I'm holding the Quidditch cup! And bloody hell, I'm Quidditch Captain too! I look good. Harry, do you think this mirror shows the future?"

"How can it? Both our parents are dead," Hope said sadly.

Morgan walked up. "I don't know," she whispered. "I see myself with someone else. A boy, I don't know who. Just that I'm wearing a patched old dress but he's still kissing me. He doesn't care about my family or my inheritance, just me." Her eyes looked dreamy for a moment, but then she seemed to think of something. "There's a strong magic here. I don't know what it is, but it pulls you in; makes you long for something that may never be. Hope, I don't think this is safe." She walked away, but slowly, as if she were struggling to run in deep water.

"Fine, be that way," Hope called after her. "I'm staying."

Ron looked at Morgan's retreating figure. "I think she's right, Harry," he finally said. "There's something wrong about this."

"Then leave, if you're scared," Harry snapped. Ron turned and walked away with Morgan, leaving the twins to stare into the mirror and wish for what was long gone.

Harry set Hope down, and the two sat down in front of the mirror. They were unaware of anything around them until a third figure appeared behind. It was Dumbledore. "Hope, Harry?" the twins leaped up and spun around to see the old wizard standing in the moonlight. He continued to speak. "I see that you, like so many before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised. I trust by now you realize what it does. Let me give you a clue. The happiest man on earth would look into the mirror and see only himself, exactly as he is."

Harry looked confused. "So, then it shows us what we want? Whatever we want?"

Dumbledore seemed to consider the question. "Yes...and no. It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desires of our hearts. Now you, who have never known your family, you see them standing beside you. But remember this, Hope, Harry. This mirror gives us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad. That is why tomorrow it will be moved to a new home, and I must ask you not to go looking for it again. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

Hope and Harry moved to the door, feeling both sad and solemn. They returned to the common room where both Ron and Morgan were asleep, Ron snoring noisily, Morgan muttering bits of words under her breath. The twins remained awake for a long time, finally drifting into a troubled sleep in each other's arms.


	5. Chapter 5

Christmas break ended shortly after and soon all of the students were returning to Hogwarts. Hope was impatiently waiting for Draco to appear, so she could give him his belated Christmas present. Finally, she saw him walking in with some Slytherins, and waved at him brightly. He excused himself from his friends and walked over to Hope. "Hi Draco!" She smiled, hugging him quickly. Draco chuckled and returned her hug.

"Hi Hope. Did you have a nice break? Did you like your present?" Draco asked as the two made their way to an abandoned classroom to talk.

"I had a fantastic break! I got to hang out with Harry and Morgan." She exclaimed, smiling brightly. "I loved your present. I spent most of break reading it and rereading it. It was the best!" She giggled, and then gasped, suddenly remembering Draco's present. "Oh! I forgot. Happy belated Christmas, Draco," she said, handing him the green wrapped present.

He quickly opened it and looked at the journal confused. "A journal? Thanks…" he muttered slowly.

Hope started laughing. "It's not for you to write your darkest secrets in. It's charmed to send notes to a journal I own that is identical to that one. Then we can talk to each other and we don't even have to be in the same room!" She explained, pulling out her own journal. "See?" She asked as she began to write in her journal. His journal lit up brightly and he opened it, reading that she had written, '_Isn't this fantastic?_' He chuckled and replied, '_Yes it is!_' The two spent the rest of the day talking about their Christmases and enjoying each other's company, neither one realizing that they had been spied on by Hope's brother in his invisibility cloak.

Classes got back into full swing, and the professors were pushing the students harder than ever. Luckily, Hope was doing really well in every class but DADA. That wasn't her fault though. For some reason, her headaches were beginning to come back full swing, and she was starting to become frightened of Quirrell's turban for some reason. Almost like it was going to come off and bite her.

Fortunately, Snape was a master at DADA and helped Hope out with anything she didn't fully understand. He was able to explain about several creatures she had never heard of before, including imps and fire crabs. He also helped her with her spells in that class, including _vermillious_ (creates red sparks) and _verdimillious_ (creates green sparks). She didn't understand why Quirrell taught about creating colors coming from wands, instead of Flitwick; it seemed more charm-y than DADA-y.

Snape also did a really good job distracting her from her headaches, and worries about them. He would teach her exceedingly hard potions, such as the draught of living death, and it would help to relax her. The meticulous concentration of potions-making always dulled her headaches and made her forget about the hustle and bustle of the last half of the school year.

One day, when Snape was helping Hope make the Wolfsbane potion for Remus, she worked up the nerve to ask him why he liked her, but hated her brother.

"It's complicated," he answered, pausing to gather his thoughts. Hope looked at him patiently. "You see, I grew up down the road from your mother. Even before we came to Hogwarts, we were friends. Unfortunately, Lily was Sorted into Gryffindor, and I was Sorted into Slytherin. Although we remained friends, it was hard." He sighed, and Hope could tell that the next part was going to be difficult to tell and hear. "Your _father_," he sneered, "and his band of idiots always made fun of me. They would torture me endlessly. Potter especially hated that Lily liked me, and hated him.

"However, in fifth year, after she defended me from your father in front of a crowd of people, I called her a mudblood. I didn't meant to; it just slipped out." He paused, looking at Hope critically. She looked up at him with soft eyes, waiting for him to continue. "After that, she never forgave me. I got sucked into the world of Slytherin, and she fell in love with your father…and had you two.

"I hate your brother because he is everything James is. He looks like him, he acts like him, and it infuriates me. The only thing your brother has going for him is his eyes: your mother's eyes. In contrast, you are exactly like your mother. You are compassionate, intelligent, talented, and have a knack for certain things just as your mother did. You also look just like your mother with your fair skin and bright red hair. Only your eyes resemble your father; but that is easy to ignore." Snape looked so sad and impulsively, Hope hugged him. Snape chuckled silently and returned her hug. Then he gently pushed her back and they continued to work.

A few weeks later, Hope and Morgan were taking a break from tons of homework, sitting outside near the Black Lake. The weather was mild for late winter, and the girls were taking advantage of it while it lasted. Both were tired of being cooped up for the entire winter. The giant squid was leaping out of the water, apparently enjoying the warmer weather as well.

"I can't believe we're over halfway through our first year," Morgan said, tossing a small rock lazily in the direction of the water.

"Me neither," Hope replied, leaning back against a tree. The two girls were such good friends now that it was hard to believe that they had never met before this year. "I'm glad we're roommates," Hope continued.

"Yeah, I was hoping to end up having a best friend like you," Morgan giggled. "No pun intended."

"What?" Hope was confused.

"Hoping, hope, get it?" Morgan replied.

"Oh, okay." Hope turned to look back at the castle and noticed something moving. "Hey, I think that's Harry and his friends. Looks like they're headed to Hagrid's. Want to join them?"

Morgan nodded, and the two got up and walked over to join Harry, Hermione, and Ron. "What are you going to Hagrid's for?"

"We need to ask him about what that dog was guarding up in the west corridors. We think it's the Sorcerer's Stone!" Ron blurted.

"What's that?" Morgan asked.

"It's a very powerful object that can turn objects to gold and also be used to produce the Elixir of Life, which makes the drinker immortal. It's only known maker is Nicholas Flamel," Hope responded.

The others all stared at her. "What? You knew that this whole time?" Harry yelped. "Why didn't you tell us? That would have saved us so much trouble!"

"You never asked me!" Hope retorted. "I'm not a mind reader, Harry!"

"Well, now we know, so let's go ask Hagrid what his part is in this," Hermione said, putting an end to the argument. The five of them walked to Hagrid's cabin and knocked on the door. "Hagrid!" they called.

Hagrid wearing oven mitts and an apron, opened the door a crack. He looked very worried, until he saw that it was them, but even so he seemed tense. "Oh, hello. Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain today," he said, closing the door again.

"We know about the Sorcerer's Stone!" all five called. Hagrid quickly reopened the door, beckoning them in. they all crowded into the small hut. Hope sniffed confusedly. The room smelled of smoke and something strange.

"We think Snape's trying to steal it," Harry said.

"What? Snape? It's not Snape, Harry!" Hope gasped. She would have known if it was him. And she didn't feel any danger near him. Harry was wrong, very wrong. For a moment, her thoughts flitted to Quirrell, but that seemed ridiculous. The DADA teacher was incompetent even in class, never doing real spells. How could he be planning to steal the Stone if he had to get past the three-headed dog?

"Hope, it is too Snape! You're just defending him because he likes you in Potions!" Harry exclaimed.

"And you're only accusing him because he gives you a hard time in that class," Hope shouted back.

"Hope's right," Hagrid boomed. "Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone! He's not about to steal it!"

"What?" Harry asked, now outnumbered.

Hagrid frowned at him. "You heard right. Come on, now, I'm a bit preoccupied today." He tried to usher them to the door, but Harry turned back

"Wait a minute," he asked. "_One_ of the teachers?"

Hermione sat down in one of Hagrid's large chairs. "Of course! There are other things defending the Stone, aren't there? Spells, enchantments." She looked at Harry as if he were the densest person she'd ever met.

"That's right. Waste of bloody time, if you ask me," Hagrid replied.

Hermione looked at Ron, who was being sniffed in the face by Hagrid's large dog. Ron shuffled away. "Ain't no one gonna get past Fluffy. Hehe, not a soul knows how. Except for me and Dumbledore. I shouldn't have told you that. I shouldn't have told you that," Hagrid sputtered, until a cauldron over a fire began to rattle. "Oh!" He exclaimed, hurrying over to the cauldron and grabbing something from it. "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" He grunted, setting the _egg_ on the table. The children looked at it in shock and curiosity.

Harry looked at the egg in confusion, "Uh, Hagrid, what exactly is that?"

"That? It's a ... it's um..." Hagrid stuttered, trying to come up with an appropriate response.

"I know what that is! But Hagrid, how did you get one?" Ron replied, excited.

Hagrid answered happily, "I won it. Off a stranger I met down at a pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact." He frowned slightly. Suddenly, the egg rattled and cracked into pieces, a small dragon emerging.

"AHHH!" Morgan screamed, jumping out of her chair and almost tripping over Hagrid's dog in her desire to get as far from the tiny creature as possible.

Hermione stared as if her brain couldn't process the reality in front of her. "Is that...a dragon?" she gasped, stating the obvious in her shock.

"That's not just a dragon," Ron observed. "That's a Norwegian Ridgeback! My brother Charlie works with these in Romania."

Hagrid looked at his new pet with obvious pride. "Isn't he beautiful? Oh. Bless him, look. He knows his mummy," he said as the dragon began to move toward him. "Hehe. Hallo, Norbert." The dragon squeaked as it looked at Hagrid.

"Norbert?" Hope asked.

"Yeah, well, he's got to have a name, doesn't he?" Hagrid replied. Ron laughed as Hagrid continued. "Don't you, Norbert?" He rubbed his fingers back and forth across Norbert's chin. "Dededede." Norbert backed away, then gave a small growl and blew a ball of fire across the table into Hagrid's beard. Hagrid quickly patted it out with one of his oven mitts. "Ohh! Oooh, ooh, ooh, well...he'll have to be trained up a bit, of course," he stammered. As Norbert seemed to be preparing to belch another fireball, Hope turned to look out the window and got the shock of her life. She gasped, and the person she'd seen disappeared from view.

"What are you looking at, Hope?" Harry asked.

"Draco Malfoy," Hope said weakly. Her blood seemed to be turning to ice inside her body. She couldn't believe Draco was doing this. Why would he spy on her and her friends? She'd thought he was her friend. They'd been getting along so well! Morgan looked at Hope sympathetically, secretly grabbing Hope's hand and squeezing it in comfort. Hope looked at her, gratitude in her eyes.

"Oh, dear." Hagrid said, quickly urging the five-some from his hut.

The five began to walk back to the castle. "Hagrid always wanted a dragon. He told me so the first time I met him." Harry spoke.

"It's crazy. And worse, Malfoy knows." Ron replied, causing Hope to sigh. Stupid Slytherin, poking his nose in other people's business. She just wanted to smack him.

"I don't understand. Is that bad?" Hermione asked, confused.

"It's bad." Ron stated, as McGonagall came into view, still in her nightgown.

"Good evening," McGonagall stated sternly. Hope looked at Draco next to McGonagall, looking far too smug. Their eyes met and Hope sent him a scathing look, causing Draco to drop his gaze to the floor in regret. The five of them followed McGonagall into her office. They lined up in front of McGonagall's desk, while Draco stood a few feet away, trying not to meet Hope's death glare. "Nothing, I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night. Therefore, as punishment for your actions, 50 points will be taken," McGonagall told them.

"50?!" Harry exclaimed.

McGonagall frowned at him. "Each. And to ensure it doesn't happen again, all six of you will receive detention." Draco looked up with a half-smile but the grin faded when McGonagall's words sank in.

"Excuse me, Professor. Perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said...'the six of us'," Draco asked.

Professor McGonagall glanced down at him with a withering stare. "No, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy. You see, as honorable as your intentions were, you too were out of bed after hours. You will serve detention with your classmates." Hope shot him a triumphant look, but Draco refused to look in her direction.

The next night found the six students being led to Hagrid's hut by Mr. Filch. "A pity they let the old punishments die." Filch was wheezing. "There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming." Draco gulped, and Hermione and Hope moved away from the old caretaker with nervous expressions. "You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the dark forest." Hagrid appeared with a crossbow, sniffling slightly. Filch walked up to him. "A sorry lot this, Hagrid. Oh, good heaven, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?"

Hagrid sniffed and sighed, turning to the children. "Norbert's gone. Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in a colony."

Hermione looked rather relieved. "Well, that's good, isn't it? He'll be with his own kind."

Hagrid sniffed again. "Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania?" Filch rolled his eyes. "What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby, after all."

Filch had lost patience with Hagrid. "Oh, pull yourself together, man. You're going into the forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you."

Draco began to pale. "The forest? I thought that was a joke! We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are..." a howl sounded from somewhere in the black depths "...werewolves!" Hope rolled her eyes. She wasn't as terrified of the forest as the others; she saw it from her window every day. And she certainly wasn't afraid of werewolves.

"It's okay, Moe," she reassured her friend, who looked panic-stricken at the thought of even putting one foot into the shadowy woods. "It's not the right time of the month for a werewolf to be on the prowl."

Filch looked pleased at the sight of the students' terror. "There's more than werewolves in those trees, lad. You can be sure of that. Nighty-night." He hobbled back to the castle.

"Right. Let's go," Hagrid said, leading the way into the woods. The group walked along a moonlight-dappled path until Hagrid suddenly paused and bent over, dipping his fingers in a silver puddle. He pulled out his fingers and rubbed them together.

"Hagrid, what's that?" Harry and Hope asked in chorus.

"What we're here for," Hagrid replied solemnly. "See that? That's unicorn's blood, that is. I found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, this one's been injured bad by something." Hope suddenly felt a blinding headache strike her. She struggled to remain on her feet, the edges of her vision hazy from pain. "So, it's our job to find the poor beast," Hagrid continued, failing to notice Hope's pain. "Ron, Hermione, Morgan, you'll come with me."

"Okay," Ron gasped weakly. Morgan gulped, but moved to stand next to Hagrid.

"And Harry," Hagrid continued, "you and Hope will go with Malfoy." Draco looked as if he'd been told to patrol the forest with a werewolf. _He's going to wish it was a werewolf when I'm through with him,_ Hope thought angrily. Little snitch!

"Okay. Then I get Fang!" Draco insisted, pointing to Hagrid's huge black dog.

Hagrid muttered, "Fine. Just so you know, he's a bloody coward." Fang whined, but Draco took his leash anyway and the three children set out. They moved carefully along the path, jumping nervously at every sound, thinking each shadow was a threat. Only Hope seemed at ease. She didn't fear the forest; its darkness and solitude were calming her, and her splitting headache was fading. She was finding it easier to sort out her feelings about Draco when she was walking in the silent stillness. Now that her head was clearer, she was slightly less furious with him. _After all, he's getting punished just like we are,_ she thought. He actually seemed to be the most terrified of them all. When Hope, who was carrying the lantern, lowered it for a moment to rest her aching arm, Draco gave a faint shriek as the blackness seemed to close in a little more.

"Here, give me that; you take Fang," he gasped, shoving the leash into Hope's hand as he wrested the lantern from her. Hope didn't really mind changing jobs; her muscles had been quivering from the effort of holding the lamp above her head so they could see the path.

Draco, with the light in hand, seemed to have regained some of his bluster. "You wait till my father hears about this. This is servant's stuff," he complained.

Harry snorted. "If I didn't know better, Draco, I'd say you were scared." Hope began to laugh, but quickly smothered it in her sleeve when Draco turned around with an angry glare nearly equal to her own.

"Scared, Potter?!" he scoffed, breaking off when a low howl reverberated through the trees. "Did you hear that? Come on, Fang. Scared." They were rapidly approaching a flat clearing with gnarled roots covering the ground. Fang paused, then growled, and Hope's head throbbed sickeningly. She dropped Fang's leash and clapped her hand to her forehead, wincing.

"What is it, Fang?" Harry asked, turning to look back. "Hope! What's wrong?" Then he looked at the clearing again, and all three of them froze in shock. In the middle of the clearing, a cloaked and hooded figure crouched over a dead unicorn, drinking its blood. The figure raised its head, silver blood dripping from its mouth. Harry gasped and grabs his scar.

Draco stared at the figure and then gave a piercing, girlish scream. "AHHHHHHHHH! AHHH!" He raced away, Fang following. "HELP!"

Harry and Hope were left by themselves, both virtually helpless with pain. The figure slid over the unicorn and then stood erect. It advanced towards Harry, who backed up, but tripped and fell. Hope gasped as Harry crawled backward, trying to escape the creature. No monster was going to hurt Harry if she had anything to say about it! Determination giving her strength, she fought back waves of pain, snatched up a stick and waved it at the dark figure. "Leave my brother alone!" She was panting in fear and her legs wanted to give out, but she tried to be brave.

The thing swirled about to face her, then began to float closer, inky cape billowing in the night wind. Hope's headache was at killing force now. She dropped her pitiful weapon and crumpled to the ground in agony.

The pounding in her head suddenly seemed to intensify. Then she realized that the sound was coming from outside herself. A figure burst into view, leaping over Harry and landing near the cloaked figure. Hope gasped when the moonlight revealed what it was. A centaur! It reared, and the cloaked figure retreated, seeming to float away.

Hope felt her headache ease, and she stood to look at the centaur, who had begun to speak to them. "Harry and Hope Potter, you must leave. You are known to many creatures here. The forest is not safe at this time. Especially for you."

Harry stood slowly. "But what was that thing you saved me from?"

"A monstrous creature." The centaur replied solemnly. "It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even if you are an inch from death. But at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure that the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half-life. A cursed life."

Harry frowned. "But who would choose such a life?"

"Can you think of no one?" The centaur asked.

Hope gasped. "Do you mean to say...that that thing that killed the unicorn...that was drinking its blood...that was Voldemort?" _And I tried to fight him off with a STICK?_ She thought, shocked.

"Do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?"

"The Sorcerer's Stone," Harry replied. Suddenly, from behind them, Hope heard Fang barking. Hope and Harry looked up to see Hagrid, Ron, Hermione, and Morgan rushing back with Draco.

"Harry!" Hermione shouted.

Hagrid greeted the centaur. "Hello there, Firenze. I see you've met our young Potters. You all right there, Harry, Hope?" The twins nodded, feeling relieved that Hagrid was with them again.

Firenze looked back at the Potter twins seriously. "Harry Potter, Hope Potter, this is where I leave you. You're safe now. Good luck." He then turned and fled into the forest.

When they made it out of the forest, Morgan wrapped her arms around a still shaking Hope. _Werewolves I can handle, _Hope thought, _apparently unicorn blood-sucking creatures I cannot._ Hope could see Draco staring at her worriedly from the corner of her eye. Hagrid accompanied the students until they reached the castle, and then they all went their separate ways: Hope and Morgan to the Ravenclaw tower, the Golden Trio to the Gryffindor tower, and Draco to the dungeons.

Hope managed to keep herself together until the two girls had collapsed onto her bed, then she burst into tears, adrenaline fading. Morgan gently held her as she cried, not being able to even imagine what Hope was going through. Meanwhile, Hope was thinking about the terrible creature in the forest; one who could murder innocent unicorns…and murder her parents. That was the root of her tears. She had finally met the man that had stolen her entire life away from her. The reason she was an orphan.

That night, Hope and Morgan shared the bed, both of them clinging each other as they fell asleep. The next morning, both girls were feeling better. They quickly got dressed and made their way down to breakfast, before heading to potions class. As they entered the potions classroom, they separated: Hope sitting by Draco and Morgan sitting by Harry.

Draco looked at her carefully as she sat down next to him. "Good morning," he offered quietly, smiling at her.

She looked at him for a moment, studying his eyes, before replying, "Good morning."

"Are you okay?" He asked hesitantly. She nodded and then turned to look at Snape, who began to instruct the students on what to do.

As time passed in silence, Hope finally had to bring up the taboo subject. "Draco, you were no help at all! What were you thinking, running off screaming like a girl? That thing could have killed Harry and me." She snapped, feeling angry all of a sudden.

Draco stared at Hope in shock. "I'm sorry; I freaked. It's not every day you see something drinking unicorn blood," he whispered sharply. "I regret leaving you, okay?" He looked at her sadly.

Hope looked him in the eyes for a long time, judging on whether he was being sincere or not. He looked at her the entire time, meeting the eye contact head on. Finally, Hope saw the sincerity in his face and nodded. "I forgive you; I don't blame you really, that thing was _scary_." She paused, "Do something like that again though and I'll kill you!" Draco gulped and nodded quickly.

Later that day, Hope met up with Snape to continue her tutoring. If I keep this up, I'll be more like a teaching assistant than student, she thought. I already know potions that sixth years are learning. Today, Snape was going to be teaching her how to brew Amortentia. "Amortentia is the most powerful Love Potion in existence. It causes a powerful infatuation or obsession from the drinker. It has a distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen, and steam rises from it in characteristic spirals," Snape told Hope.

"It has a different aroma for everyone who smells it, reminding each person of the things that they find most attractive, even if the person doesn't acknowledge or is unaware of their fondness for the object of their affection themselves. The effects of the potion on a person are described to be near instantaneous; with the person who drank the potion appearing "pale and sickly" and becoming obsessed with the object of their affections, speaking of them as though "hit by a ray of purest sunlight" and becoming excited or dangerously unstable towards others. The potion must be administrated continuously in order to maintain the false love in the drinker. Otherwise, the effects will wear off and the victim would regain their own free will." Snape continued and Hope wrote all of this down, very interested.

They then started to create the potion, making small talk during the idle moments. "I heard about what happened last night. Are you all right?" Snape asked Hope, looking down his nose at her.

Hope sighed deeply, "I will be. It was a shock, coming face to face with the man who murdered my family. Even though that was only a shell, it was still really difficult. I can only imagine how hard it would've been to meet the real Voldemort." She told him.

Snape nodded. "I can imagine that it would be difficult," he spoke in a voice that Hope was unfamiliar with; it almost seemed like guilt. _Why would he be guilty?_ Hope thought, shaking her head. The glimpse of emotion had slipped through his face quickly and was gone before Hope could fully examine it. _Maybe I imagined it_, she sighed, returning to the potion in front of her.

Finally the potion was finished and Snape told her to take a whiff, "What do you smell?" He asked her.

Hope lowered her face and took a deep breath in, speaking as she identified each smell. "I smell the scent of old books, freshly cut flowers… the smell of wolf, and… a masculine scent. I can't place where I've smelled that one before." She answered, face filled with confusion. _Where have I smelled that scent before?_ Snape nodded, excusing her for the day.


	6. Chapter 6

A month later, Hope and Harry were hanging out on the Quidditch pitch. He was attempting to teach her how to play Quidditch. They were just using the quaffle to play catch and attempt to make goals. Hope was having a blast flying around chasing each other. Harry would throw the quaffle to Hope and she would try to make it to the hoops before Harry cut her off. She was having a terrible time catching the darn thing. It kept bouncing out of her arms, or she would completely miss the ball entirely. Hope also had a hard time throwing the ball; it would only go three feet before falling towards the ground.

This had just occurred when a chuckle from the ground distracted Hope from watching her evil twin. She glanced toward the sound and noticed that Oliver Wood was watching them. _How long has he been standing there?_ She wondered embarrassedly. _I hope I didn't look like an idiot_. She looked at Oliver again and he waved to her. She began to wave back when something hard hit her right in the face, nearly knocking her off her broom.

She shrieked, grabbing tightly onto her broom and turning to glare at Harry. He looked at her sheepishly, before catching the ball that Oliver had thrown to him. She then noticed that Oliver had gotten onto his broom and was joining them. She blushed, now she was going to make an idiot out of herself in front of two people! "Hello you two," Oliver said as he reached the twins. "Having fun?" He asked.

Harry chuckled. "Just teaching my sister the basics of Quidditch. She's brilliant at flying a broom, but terrible at catching or throwing the ball." He stated, causing her to fly at him. He quickly dodged out of her way, rolling his broom.

"I have awful hand-eye coordination. Asking me to catch a ball in mid-air while flying 20 feet above the ground is too much for me to take. I'm not that talented," she stated, trying to make herself feel better.

"Quidditch isn't for everyone. At least you can fly a broom; many people can't even do that!" Oliver exclaimed dramatically, causing the twins to laugh.

"Is your plan to become a professional Quidditch player?" Hope asked Oliver, curious to find more out about the boy she and Morgan had crushes on.

"Yes," he replied. "I'm hoping to be signed to Puddlemore United when I graduate from Hogwarts."

"That's so cool!" Harry cried, "It would be awesome to play Quidditch professionally." Oliver grinned at them.

"Have you guys thought about anything you might like to pursue? I know you're only First Years, but maybe you have a class that's your favorite, or something?" Oliver asked.

Harry shrugged, "I don't know. Right now Quidditch is my favorite thing. DADA would be cool too, if someone competent was actually teaching it." The three of them laughed and then the boys looked at Hope.

She smiled, "I would love to do something with Potions!" She said brightly, causing the two boys to grimace. "I know that you guys hate Snape, but when you get over that fact, you find that the potion-making process is fascinating. Like, did you know that wolfsbane, aconite, and monkshood are the same plant, and that plant is made to create the Wolfsbane potion? That potion is used to make sure that a werewolf keeps his human mind during transformation, and the person has to take it every day for a week or it won't work. Also, if you pour sugar in the Wolfsbane potion, it is rendered useless. Or-"

Harry cut her off, "Hope. Hope. HOPE!" He shouted, and she looked at him and Oliver. They were staring at her with their mouths wide open. "We have no idea what you just said. We get that you like potions, but maybe you should tell this to Morgan instead of us." He stated.

"Oh, right. Sorry," she muttered, embarrassed. _Of course they don't care. Nobody cares,_ she thought glumly. "Well, I'm going to go to the library. Homework is piling up. Especially with exams coming. Bye guys!" She said, waving goodbye to the boys as they looked after her. She landed and put the broom away, before walking away dejectedly.

She made her way to the library and pulled out a potions textbook, looking at it angrily. _Stupid subject. Stupid me._ She was so sick of people judging her for being interested in an unfavorable subject. As she went to put the book back, she saw Draco walk over to where she was sitting.

"Hi Draco," she said glumly.

"Hope, is something wrong?" Draco asked, sitting down next to her and pulling out his own potions book.

"Nobody understands me. They think I'm weird because I like Potions best," Hope whimpered, holding back tears.

"I don't," Draco said, putting an arm around her shoulder. "It's okay to be different, Hope. If everyone was the same, it would be horrible! Can you imagine a world full of Professor Quirrells?"

Hope started to giggle. "That would be awful! One of him is bad enough!" She leaned against Draco and they laughed until the librarian came over and shushed them severely. Then they went to work studying, since exams were approaching fast.

Over the next few days, Hope and Morgan studied furiously, determined to do well in every one of their exams. Hope was constantly using the journals to communicate with Draco, asking him questions about potions and answering his. Sometimes they would spend half an hour working on a complex question before realizing that it was about a potion that wouldn't be covered until fifth year! When Hope told Morgan about a few of those mistakes, Morgan just rolled her eyes. "You two are insane."

Exams were upon them before Hope knew it. She had studied for them well. The only one she was worried about was DADA but Snape had helped her study, as had Draco and Morgan. The DADA exam consisted of questions about the creatures and spells the students had learned that year. Transfiguration made the students transform a mouse into a snuffbox. Potions made the students create the Forgetfulness Potion; something Draco and Hope succeeded in easily. The History of Magic exam consisted of tons of questions about self-stirring cauldron by Gaspard Shingleton; it was extremely boring to everybody but Morgan (who somehow loved that class!). The Astronomy exam dealt with the constellations. Herbology included weird plants, including Devil's Snare. Finally, the charms had the students making a pineapple tap-dance across Flitwick's desk.

Morgan and Hope were trying to find the Golden trio, when all of a sudden the three appeared in front of them. They were looking tense and panicky.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hope asked.

"Snape's going to steal the Stone tonight. Dumbledore's gone, so he's free to do it."

"How many times do I have to tell you, it is not Snape!" Hope shouted.

"Okay, okay, _someone_ is going to steal the Stone tonight," Hermione jumped in before a full-blown fight could break out. "We're going to get it first. We're going tonight. Do you want to come with us? We could use you and Morgan along."

"I'll come. Moe?" Hope asked.

"I'm game." Morgan stood up a little straighter. "Where you go, I go, Hope."

"Thanks, Morgan. Where should we meet you?"

"Outside the west corridor. Midnight should be a good time." Harry said.

"Okay, we'll meet you then," Hope said. She and Morgan made their way to the Ravenclaw common room, where they both collapsed onto a couch.

"What did we just agree to again?" Morgan asked.

"We have to get past that three headed dog, and who knows what other traps, to retrieve the Sorcerer's Stone, which Harry thinks Snape is trying to steal."

"Oh."

That night, the girls slipped from their room under cover of darkness. Their fellow Ravenclaws were all sleeping soundly, making up for all the late nights they had spent studying for the exams. They met Harry at five minutes to midnight near the door outside the room with the dog. This time Hope used the correct spell to unlock the door and they all entered as silently as possible, trying not to wake the dog. "Fluffy" was sleeping with one paw directly over the trapdoor.

"Oh, no!" Ron gasped, making the huge dog shift in its sleep. "How are we going to get in there now?"

"If it would stay asleep we could move the paw," Morgan pointed out.

"Hagrid said the only way to make it sleep is with music. And I'm a rotten singer," Ron muttered. "And no offense, Hermione, Harry, but you guys aren't that great either."

"But I am!" Hope said. "I'll keep it sleeping, you guys move that paw." The dog was waking up now, staring at them with its six green eyes.

Hope began to sing softly. "Brilliant!" Morgan exclaimed, then shut her mouth when the others glared at her. Fluffy's eyes drooped, and his heads lolled as he began to snore again. The others struggled to shove the huge, heavy paw. Finally they succeeded in freeing the door and tugging it open.

"Good work, Hope," Harry whispered. Then the five children dropped one by one through the trapdoor.

Hope had been half-expecting to break a leg falling a long way onto a hard surface, so she was pleasantly surprised when her fall was broken quickly by something that felt like a plant. "What is this stuff? Where are we? Are there plants in the Hogwarts cellar or something?" She could hear Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Morgan rustling in the weeds beside her. And then a large vine shot across her leg, and Hope knew exactly what they were dealing with.

"Devil's Snare!" Hermione shouted.

"It's going to kill us!" Ron yelled. Hope fought to keep down a rising panic as she tried to keep out of the way of the thrashing, strangling vines. Devil's Snare was an extremely deadly plant even at a small size, since it moved to attack and strangle anything that disturbed it. This was a hundred times the size of the sample Professor Sprout had used in her demonstration in class.

"Stop moving, all of you. This is Devil's Snare. You have to relax. If you don't, it will only kill you faster," Hermione ordered. Morgan and Hope were already sitting very still, but the boys were struggling to get free.

Ron stared at Hermione as if she'd lost her head. "Kill us faster?! Oh, now I can relax!"

Hermione, Hope and Morgan managed a smile as they were sucked down below. The vines released them, and they were standing on solid ground. From above they could hear the boys yelling "Hope, Hermione, Morgan!"

"Just relax!" The girls yelled up.

"Where are you?!" Harry called back.

"Harry! Just listen!" Hope shouted, her patience wearing thin. In another moment, Harry fell through the vines to land with them

Ron was still trapped in the Devil's Snare. The others could hear him yelling, "Harry! Help!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "He's not relaxing, is he?"

"Apparently not," Hope and Harry muttered together.

"We've got to do something!" Morgan said. "He's just going to stay up there acting like an idiot until that plant kills him."

"What can we do?" Harry asked.

"Honestly, do you not pay attention in class at all, Harry?" Hope grumbled. "Devil's Snare was on our Herbology exam!"

Hermione began reciting the little rhyme Professor Sprout had taught them. "Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare, it's deadly fun...but will sulk in the sun! That's it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight!" She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the plant. "_Lumus_ _Solem_!" A beam of light shot out, striking the vines. The Snare shrieked and recoiled, causing Ron to fall through with a scream.

Ron staggered to his feet. "Whew. Lucky we didn't panic!"

Harry frowned at him. "Lucky the girls pay attention in Herbology." Suddenly, a soft swishing sound reached their ears. "What is that?"

Hope frowned. "I don't know. Sounds like wings." They entered into a room filled with golden "birds."

Hermione stared at them in wonder. "Curious. I've never seen birds like these."

"They're not birds, they're keys," Morgan corrected. "And I'll bet one of them fits that door." They noticed a broomstick floating in the middle of the room.

"What's this all about?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know. Strange," Harry said.

"Ugh! What're we going to do? There must be 1000 keys up there!" Hermione grumbled.

Ron looked up, thinking. "We're looking for a big old fashioned one. Probably rusty like the handle."

"There! I see it!" Hope called, pointing. "The one with the broken wing!" Harry looked at the broom.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"It's too simple," Harry replied.

"Oh, go on, Harry!" Ron said. "If Snape can catch it on that old broomstick, you can! You're the youngest seeker in a century!"

"It's not SNAPE!" Hope shouted, but the others, except for Morgan, paid no attention. Harry nodded at Ron and grabbed the broom. All the keys suddenly flew one direction, right at Harry. He climbed on the broom, swiping at them.

"This complicates things a bit!" Ron exclaimed. Harry flew off into the air, chasing the fluttering key. He swooped around the room for what seemed like forever before he finally got hold of the large key.

"Catch the key!" He yelled, throwing it downward. Hermione leaped and caught it, fitting it into the lock. She, Ron, Morgan and Hope dashed through the door, followed by Harry on his broom. They slammed the door just in time, hearing the keys all drill into the other side.

They were now standing in a dark room, filled with broken chunks of stone and metal lying all over. Morgan shuddered. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all."

"Where are we? A graveyard?" Harry asked.

"This is no graveyard," Ron sighed. "It's a chessboard." He walked out onto the marble board and flames lit, illuminating the board and massive pieces.

Harry pointed across the room. "There's the door." They attempted to walk across the room but the pawns brought out their swords, preventing the group from moving any further. They jumped, Harry pulling Hope away from the sharp weapons.

"Now what do we do?" Morgan asked Ron, seeing as he was the wizard's chess master.

Ron took control. "It's obvious, isn't it? We've got to play our way across the room. All right. Harry, you take the Bishop's square. Hermione, you'll be the Queen's side castle. Morgan, you'll be the other Rook. Hope, you're the Queen. As for me, I'll be a knight." The five of them quickly moved into their places. Hope was nervous, she was terrible at chess.

"What happens now?" Hermione asked.

Ron mounted his horse, saying, "Well, white moves first, and then...we play." As he spoke, a pawn on the other side moved forward. He studied the board, contemplating his next move.

"Ron, you don't suppose this is going to be like...real wizard's chess, do you?" Morgan asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"You there! D-5!" Ron called to a black pawn. Said piece moved forward, diagonal to the white pawn. The white pawn raised its swords and smashed the black one. The five jumped in fright. "Yes, Morgan, I think this is going to be exactly like wizard's chess!"

The game continued as Ron directed the pieces. Hope moved when Ron told her to, and watched the others do the same. It was frightening, watching wizard's chess up close and personal. She was afraid that she was going to get hurt! Or worse, one of her friends!

Ron continued to direct in confusing terms, "Castle to E-4! Pawn to C-3!" Suddenly, the white Queen turned, and smashed a piece, causing the five of them to wince. The Queen turned again and both Ron and Harry studied the game closely, trying to find an applicable move.

Harry seemed to catch something. "Wait a minute," he called to Ron.

"You understand right, Harry. Once I make my move, the Queen will take me...then you'll be free to check the King." Ron spoke calmly, though Hope could see the anxiety in his eyes.

"No, Ron! No!" Morgan exclaimed loudly.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, confused.

"He's going to sacrifice himself!" Morgan told Hermione and Hope.

"No, Ron, you can't!" Hope yelped, causing Ron to close his eyes.

"There must be another way!" Hermione pleaded.

Ron turned to face the girls. "Do you want to stop Snape or not?" Hope didn't even bother trying to correct Ron. Not when he was about to sacrifice himself for them. "Harry, Hope, it's you two that have to go on. I know it. Not me, not Hermione, you." The twins nodded reluctantly. Ron looked at the chessboard determined. "Knight...to H-3." His horse moved forward into its spot.

"Check," he bravely told the white Queen. It turned towards him quickly. Ron's breath quickened and he grasped the steel reigns harder. The Queen stopped in front of him. SMASH! It hit Ron's piece hard, causing him to go flying off the horse and he landed on the floor, unconscious. Hope and Morgan gasped, looking at each other in fear. Hermione went to step towards him, until Harry stopped her.

"NO! Don't move! Don't forget, we're still playing." He said sharply. Hermione stopped moving, staying in her little square. Harry walked diagonally until he stood in front of the King, saying, "Checkmate." The King's sword fell onto the ground. They had won! The four rushed towards Ron's unconscious body, Hope quickly running her wand over his body.

"He'll be okay; he needs to go to the Hospital Wing right away though," Hope reassured the bushy haired girl. "Hermione, Morgan, take care of Ron. Then, go to the owlery. Send a message to Dumbledore. Ron's right...Harry and I have to go on." Hope told her friends. The two girls nodded. Morgan walked over to Hope while Hermione spoke to Harry.

"You'll be okay, Harry. You're a great wizard, you really are." Hermione told Harry.

"Not as good as you." Harry replied.

Hermione smiled, "Me? Books and cleverness? There are more important things. Friendship, and bravery. And Harry, just be careful." He nodded.

"Be careful, Hope," Morgan whispered, hugging the small girl tightly. "Whoever went through all of this trouble to get the stone is going to be dangerous. Keep Harry safe; keep yourself safe; and come back to us!" Hope smiled at Morgan before joining her brother at the door. The two looked back at their friends before grasping hands and walking through the door to face their next challenge.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry and Hope walked down a long staircase to an empty room with pillars around it. The Mirror of Erised was placed in the middle of the room, Professor Quirrell was standing before it. Harry yelped and grabbed his scar, causing Hope to look at him in concern.

When she noticed that the man was Quirrell, and not Snape, she grinned, "I told you so!" She exclaimed, looking at Harry. He shook his head sharply at her, jutting his chin towards the DADA teacher. Hope nodded, and the movement caused her growing headache to explode. "Ahh!" She whimpered, grasping her head in her hands.

Harry looked at Quirrell in shock. "You? No. It can't be...Snape. He was the one-"

Quirrell cut him off, "Yes. He does seem the type, doesn't he? Next to me, who would suspect, 'p-p-poor s-stuttering Professor Quirrell?'" He sneered.

"B-but, that day, during the Quidditch Match, Snape tried to kill me." Harry continued, trying to make sense of it all.

"No, dear boy. I tried to kill you! And trust me, if Snape's cloak hadn't caught fire and broken my eye contact, I would have succeeded. Even with Snape muttering his little counter-curse." Quirrell snarled, angrily staring at the two twins.

"Snape was trying to...save me?" Harry asked slowly, not able to imagine that _Snape_ wasn't the bad guy.

"Of course he was trying to save you Harry. Snape isn't evil. And you," she turned towards Quirrell, "I should've known!" She bit out.

Quirrell scorned. "I knew you two were dangerous right from the off. Hope and the way you didn't trust me, almost as if you knew something was wrong with me. And Harry, after Halloween."

"Th-then you let the troll in." Harry stuttered, the severity of the situation finally making sense.

"Very good Potter, yes. Snape, unfortunately, wasn't fooled. While everyone else was running to the dungeon, he went to the 3rd floor to head me off. He, of course, never trusted me again. He rarely left me alone." Quirrell turned back to face the mirror, and Harry buckled over in pain. Quirrell continued, "But he doesn't understand. I'm never alone. Never. Now...what does this mirror do? I see what I desire. I see myself holding the stone. But how do I get it?"

Suddenly a raspy voice called out, from beneath Quirrell's turban. "Use the twins."

"Come here, children, now!" Quirrell snapped. Harry began to walk forward shakily, causing Hope to follow after him. "Tell me. What do you see?" He inquired, forcing Harry and Hope in front of the mirror.

Harry and Hope looked into the mirror. The twins saw themselves in it, and Harry's mirror self brought his hand into his pocket and took out the Sorcerer's Stone. The mirror self winked and put the stone back. Very subtly, Hope nudged her hand against Harry's pocket, feeling the Stone inside. Looking at Harry, she nodded imperceptibly, causing Harry to make a small noise.

"What is it?! What do you see?!" Quirrell asked sharply.

"I-I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore. I've won the house cup." Harry answered at the same time as Hope, who said, "I've just been awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class for inventing an innovative potion."

"They lie," the hidden voice hissed angrily.

"Tell the truth! What do you see?!" Quirrell snapped, stepping close to the twins to look them in the eyes. Hope backed up slightly, not liking how close the evil professor was getting to her or Harry.

"Let me speak to them," the voice spoke again. Harry and Hope looked at each other with terror in their eyes. _Who is the mysterious voice that longs to speak to us? _Hope wondered.

"Master, you are not strong enough," Quirrell's voice stated.

"I have strength enough for this," the voice spoke, and Quirrell began to unwrap his turban, bringing another face into view. The face was on the back of Quirrell's head, and resembled a snake. Quirrell turned so that the face was looking in the mirror, staring at Hope and Harry in hate. It was Voldemort! "Hope and Harry Potter. We meet again." The voice hissed.

"Voldemort," Hope replied, pushing her fear away and trying to look brave.

"Yes. You see what I have become? See what I must do to survive? Live off another. A mere parasite. Unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a body of my own. But there is something that can. Something that conveniently enough, lies in the boy's pocket!" Voldemort condemned. Harry turned and began to run toward the exit, while Hope pulled her wand out and pointed it at the man(s), slowly following Harry.

Voldemort commanded Quirrell, "Stop him!" Quirrell snapped his fingers, causing fire to erupt around the border of the room. The twins were stuck in the room with a corrupted professor and the Dark Lord himself. "Don't be a fool! Why suffer a horrific death when you can join me and live?!"

Hope shook her head defiantly, yelling, "Never!"

Voldemort sneered at her, "Haha. Bravery. Your parents had it too. Tell me, twins, would you like to see your mother and father again? Together, we can bring them back." Voldemort paused for a moment as Lily and James Potter appeared in the mirror. "All I ask for is something in return."

Harry took the stone from his pocket and looked at it curiously. "No Harry!" Hope shouted to him.

"That's it, Harry," Voldemort exclaimed, "Ignore the girl. There is no good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it. Together, we'll do extraordinary things. Just give me the stone!" Voldemort tried to convince Harry, as their parents vanished from the mirror.

"You liar!" Harry shouted.

"Kill them!" Voldemort commanded Quirrell. Quirrell's body lifted from the floor, as he flew towards the twins, his hands wrapping around the twins' throats. They all fell back as the twins struggled to get Quirrell off of them. The stone rolled out of Harry's hand as the twins kicked and flailed around. Suddenly, Harry put his hand on top of Quirrell's, scratching at it to try to lift it away from his throat.

Smoke began to float from Quirrell's hand, as he shrieked in pain. Quirrell let go of the siblings and backed away from them, his hand crumbling into black ash. "What is this magic?" He asked as his hand completely disappeared.

Voldemort demanded again, "Fool! Get the stone!"

Quirrell began to walk forward but Hope and Harry rushed towards him, both of them putting their hands on Quirrell's face and neck. Quirrell screamed. He helplessly tried to back away from the twins, as his horrendously burned face crumbled into nothing, his body quickly following. He fell to the floor. Harry gasped and hurried to grab the stone, quickly putting it back in his pocket.

Suddenly Hope screamed, as a dust cloud rose from the ground in the shape of Voldemort's face. The cloud rushed forward, making its way through Hope and Harry. The three of them screamed, Harry and Hope falling to the ground unconscious, and Voldemort flying away with a low moaning cry.

The twins awoke in the hospital wing a few days later. Hope glances over at Harry to see him sitting up and talking to Dumbledore. "Good afternoon, Harry, Hope. Ah. Tokens from your admirers?" He asked kindly, looking at all of the candy and cards the twins had gotten.

"Admirers?" Harry asked in confusion.

"What happened down in the dungeons between you two and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows." Dumbledore explained as the three of them smiled. "Ah, I see your friend Ronald has saved you the trouble of opening your Chocolate Frogs." The headmaster chuckled.

"Ron was here? Is he all right? What about Hermione?" Harry asked as Hope wondered, "How's Morgan?"

Dumbledore let out a soft laugh at the siblings' selflessness. "Fine. They're all just fine." He told the two.

"But, what happened to the Stone?" Hope asked, looking at the headmaster closely.

"Relax, sweet girl. The stone has been destroyed. My friend Nicholas and I had a little chat and agreed it was best all around." Dumbledore explained, gently patting Hope on the head.

Harry asked Dumbledore, "But Flamel, he'll die, won't he?"

Dumbledore nodded, sitting on Hope's bed. "He has enough Elixir to set his affairs in order. But yes, he will die."

"How is it I got the Stone, sir? One minute I was staring in the mirror, and the next..." Harry wondered, voice fading out.

"Ah. You see, only a person who wanted to find the Stone, find it, but not use it, would be able to get it. That is one of my more brilliant ideas. And between you and me that's saying something." Dumbledore told the twins, causing them to smile.

"Does that mean, with the Stone gone, I mean, that Voldemort can never come back?" Harry questioned the wizard.

Dumbledore shook his head slowly," Ah, I'm afraid there are ways in which he can return. Harry, do you know why Professor Quirrell couldn't bear to have you touch him?" Harry and Hope both shook their heads no. "It was because of your mother. She sacrificed herself for you, and that kind of act leaves a mark," Harry touched his scar. "No, no, this kind of mark cannot be seen. It lives in your very skin."

"What is it?" Hope asked softly.

"Love, Hope, love." He patted her on the head once more, before standing up. "Ah. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. I was most unfortunate in my youth to come across a vomit flavored one, and since then I have lost my liking for them. But I think I could be safe with a nice toffee..." He picked out a brown one and popped it in his mouth. "Mm. Alas. Earwax," he murmured, causing the twins to start laughing.

A few hours later, the twins were dismissed from the Hospital Wing and went their separate ways, Hope returning to her common room and Harry in search for his friends. As Hope walked toward the Ravenclaw tower, a shadow stepped in front of her. She glanced up, noticing that it was Draco.

"Are you all right?" He asked worriedly, stepping closer to her.

She smiled tiredly at him, "I'm fine Draco. Just a little confused and emotionally exhausted, but I'll be fine."

"If there's anything I can do," Draco trailed off. Hope surprised Draco by hugging him tightly, trying to hide the sudden tears that were trying to escape from her eyes. Draco froze momentarily, before quickly wrapping his arms around her. The tears broke free from her eyes and she started sobbing into Draco's shoulder, causing him to start rubbing her back and shushing her gently. "It's okay, Hope," he whispered, "Everything is going to be okay." They stood there for what seemed like years, until Hope's crying ceased. Draco gently wiped the tears from her face, causing Hope to smile up at him. Together, the two walked to the Ravenclaw common room. He waited until she opened the door, before leaving to return to his own common room.

"Draco," Hope called out, causing him to pause and look back at her. "Thanks." She simply spoke. She didn't need to clarify what she meant because Draco already knew. He smiled at her and nodded his head, before leaving the tower swiftly. Hope sighed and walked into the common room, ignoring the staring people, and entered her dorm.

Morgan was sitting on her bed when Hope walked in, and quickly jumped up to hug her. Hope collapsed into Morgan's arms, not crying, but simply too exhausted to move anymore. The brunette pulled the redhead into bed and laid down next to her, neither of them saying anything. They simply cherished each other's presence, and fell into a restless sleep.

The final feast quickly arrived and all of the students walked into the Great Hall, which was decorated with green banners with snakes on them. Slytherin had won the House Cup. After all of the students got situated, McGonagall dinged her knife on her glass and everybody stopped talking.

Dumbledore rose to his feet. "Another year gone. And now, as I understand it, the house cup needs awarding, and the points stand thus. In fourth place, Gryffindor with 312 points." Dumbledore paused, allowing people to clap. Hope and Morgan looked over in time to see Harry and Hermione hide their heads. "Third place, Ravenclaw, with 326 points. In second place, Hufflepuff, with 352 points. And in first place, with 472 points, Slytherin House." There was immense cheering from the Slytherin house, while all of the other houses pouted. This was the 8th time Slytherin had won the House Cup.

Dumbledore continued. "Yes, yes, well done Slytherin, well done Slytherin. However, recent events must be taken into account. And I have a few last minute points to award. To Miss Hermione Granger, for the use of cool intellect when others were in great peril, 50 points." The other three houses clapped for her.

"Second, to Mr. Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess that Hogwarts has seen these many years...50 points. Third, to Mr. Harry Potter, for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house 60 points." The other three houses cheered loudly, as Gryffindor was now tied with Slytherin.

"Fourth, to Miss Hope Potter, for using the knowledge she has been given and for keeping a cool head during conflict, I award Ravenclaw house 50 points." Hope looked at Morgan in shock, and both girls grinned. "And fifth, to Miss Morgan Ettington, for standing behind friends even into the grasps of peril, I award Ravenclaw House 50 points." The Ravenclaws cheered, they were ahead of Hufflepuff now!

Dumbledore had one more student to announce, "And finally, it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends. I award 10 points to Neville Longbottom." Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor all burst into loud cheers because Gryffindor had just beaten out Slytherin for the House Cup!

"Assuming that my calculations are correct, I believe that a change of decoration is in order," Dumbledore stated, turning the Slytherin banners into Gryffindor ones. "Gryffindor wins the House Cup!" All of the students, except for the Slytherins, began to scream loudly, and threw their hats into the air. Hope looked at Draco in time to see him smash his hat onto the table in anger. She smiled sadly at him, before getting caught up in the celebrations. She and Morgan jumped up and down in gladness, so happy that Harry and his house had won the House Cup. All in all, it was a fantastic day!

Sadly, the next morning the students were packing to leave Hogwarts. Hope and Morgan finished packing and then headed down to say goodbye to Draco and some other friends. Morgan ran off, leaving Hope to stare at Draco. "I'm going to miss you so much!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around him, causing other students to look at them weirdly. Draco ignored the odd looks, wrapping his arms around her and spinning her around, causing Hope to giggle.

"I'm going to miss you too, Hope. But we have our journals, so we can talk all of the time. And maybe we can spend a day together or something over the summer. Morgan's family is friends with mine, so the three of us could always get together," Draco suggested, not wanting to spend an entire summer away from Hope.

Hope nodded excitedly. "I would love that! I'll have to ask my godfather for permission, but I'm sure he'll say yes!" She smiled, hugging Draco one more time. The two walked together to the carriages and Draco helped her with her luggage. Morgan jumped into the carriage with the two of them and they headed towards the train station in Hogsmeade.

On the way there, the three agreed to ask their parents about spending a day together, and Morgan vowed that she would convince her parents to allow Draco and Hope over for a day or two. They all smiled at each other and then hugged goodbye. Hope and Morgan left Draco with Crabbe and Goyle and then headed over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Just as they made their way over there, Hagrid walked over to Harry. Ron, Hermione, and Morgan waved at the giant man before getting on the train. Hope and Harry remained there, looking up at Hagrid.

Hagrid smiled down at them, "Thought you were leaving without saying good-bye, did ja?" He asked, taking a red photo album out of his coat pocket, and handing it to Harry. "This is for you." He stated.

Harry opened the album to see a moving picture of him and Hope as babies, being held by their parents. The four of them were smiling and waving, which caused Harry and Hope to smile. _We were so happy then,_ Hope sighed, thinking of days that would never be.

"Thanks, Hagrid," Harry says, giving the giant a hug. Hope also hugged the man, before getting onto the train, allowing Harry to say goodbye to Hagrid alone.

As Harry met up with his twin and their three friends, a smile came across his face. Hope smiled back at him, grabbing his hand in her own. They walked down the aisle of the train, looking for an empty compartment.

"Feels strange to be going home, doesn't it?" Hermione asked the group quietly.

"I'm not going home. Not really," Harry answered, squeezing Hope's hand in his own.

The small girl looked at each of her friends with a bright smile on her face. "Nope, definitely not going home," she stated, causing her friends to laugh. Although they were separating for the summer, to return to their respective houses, they would be constantly thinking of each other, and would soon be back at Hogwarts for another adventure.

_What's going to happen next year,_ Hope wondered curiously, as she watched the trees pass by the window quickly. _Whatever it is, I can't wait!_


End file.
